Plaything of the Gods
by ChelleyBean
Summary: Do you ever feel that sometimes the Powers that Be are laughing at you?
1. Monkeywrench

_Dear Reader,_

_Don't ask me where this came from.  Maybe I should lay off the chocolate.  _

_As always, I own nothing, Mr. Lucas owns all.  I'm broke, so don't bother to sue._

_Love,_

_ChelleyBean_

****

**_Plaything of the Gods:_**

**_Monkey Wrench_**

****

In the beginning there was nothing, until the Voice of God spoke "Let there be light" and it came to be.  And the Voice of God commanded there to be planets and stars and galaxies, and these things, too, came to be.  He divided the heavens from the earth and He sculpted continents amidst the oceans.  He brought forth creatures to populate the air and the lands and the seas, creating them with wondrous variety.  He created intelligent beings to rule over all his creations, beings sculpted in His Own image, and called them 'Man'.  He stood and looked at all that He had made, and He found it most pleasing.

"And the prat has been beaming like a proud father ever since."  

Lucifer, Lord of Lies and Ruler of Hell, sat upon his ebony throne, glaring into the darkness that surrounded him.  Contrary to the popular belief of many of the race of man, he was not a beast of fearsome appearance, nor was he red skinned with a tail and horns.  Lucifer was beautiful, for he had been the most comely of all of God's angels.  He had once been the highest amongst them all and well favored by the Creator.  In time, he had come to feel that he, not God, should rule all, and he had gathered a following of those who agreed with him.  They had waged a war in Heaven, only to be defeated and cast out of Paradise.  And when he had been cast out, God did not mar his beauty or scar his face.  He had allowed Lucifer to remain as beautiful as he had been in Heaven.  This was further punishment for the fallen angel, for there was no one to appreciate his noble visage here.

He had come to detest men.  They were His favorites, His precious children.  He placed them above even those who had served him since before the beginning of time.  He gave Man beautiful worlds on which to live and graced them with countless blessings, and still they were never satisfied.  They were greedy, petty and spoiled.  On the other hand, they were easily manipulated.  He was planning to use them in the war that he hoped would give him the Throne of Heaven and enable him to throw God down out of Paradise.  To his frustration, however, the war was not going well.  Every time he thought that he was about to win a major victory, one of His faithful would undo all of his hard work.  

The Creator didn't even seem to put forth a great deal of effort.  He made Lucifer's defeats look so simple, so easy.  That such a frail and corrupt race as Man could hold in their hearts the will to cleave to their maker seemed an impossibility.  With the modern age, it was hoped that Man would lose its champions, that gone were the days of Abraham, Job and Peter.  It was not to be, however, for there always seemed to be one of them, one of the Humans, willing to take up the yoke He set before them.

With a snarl, Lucifer got up from his throne and paced the dark room, anger evident.  His last full attempt had been a short, angry little German by the name of Hitler.  With that one, he had even gone after His Chosen, the Hebrews.  Millions of them had been shot, hung or even cooked to death.  But that plan, too, had failed.  The rest of Man had banded together to strike Hitler's forces down. For a brief time, the waves of anguish and lament had been like sweet wine, but in the end, Man had triumphed again.  God had triumphed again.  It was ever infuriating.  

He had tried striking Him down from countless angles.  Man was present on numerous worlds in numerous galaxies.  He had tried many of them, but he had found that Terra was particularly vulnerable, the men there more easily corrupted.  It was such a trouble spot that He had even sent His Own Son to them to set them back upon the correct path.  It was a major weak spot, but even so it held firm.  No matter what tactic he had used, He always had someone amongst these pathetic creatures who would rise to the call.

How as He doing it?

With another snarl, the Dark Lord turned and went back to his throne.  He snatched up the glorious cloak resting there and draped it over his shoulders.  With purposeful strides he marched towards the door to his throne room, but as he approached the archway he twisted it with his thoughts so that it did not take him to the corridor outside.  Instead, he walked through it and entered a room without endings or walls, filled with miniature models of galaxies and stars.  This was His workshop, a place not technically within Heaven and where he came when he wished to speak to the Creator.

"You are troubled, Morning Star."  God's voice had the ability to surround you and enter inside you at the same time.  It grated on Lord Satan's nerves and he gritted his teeth.  "Are your schemes against me not going well?"

God moved amongst the models.  He was of a beauty far grander than even Lucifer's, so grand that even the Host had difficulty looking upon him.  It was a terrible beauty that would strike men dead should they look upon the face of God.  The Dark Lord lowered his gaze least he become enraptured by Him.  

"You know well how my plots fair."

"So I do."  He stopped and adjusted a star that hovered over a random galaxy, thereby setting in motion changes upon a planet within that galaxy that would result in a new ecosystem, capable of supporting carbon based life.  "You have been stewing over your failures, Fallen One."

Lucifer said nothing.  He glared at the moving models of stars and planets from underneath a lock of honey gold hair.  Then, abruptly, "Why do you bother with them?  They are nothing compared to the likes of us, and yet you bestow so much upon them."

"Nothing?"  The Creator stopped, pondering a vibrant, green world that was so tiny that only the eyes of a higher being could have picked it out.  "They are not nothing.  You are blind if you cannot see their allure.  I made them in My image, a moment of vanity, but they have proven time and time again that they are worthy."

"But what makes them worthy?"  Lucifer waved his arms wide to indicate the room and its many models.  "You give them free will, you give them souls, and you give them worlds filled with all they will ever need to survive.  You pamper them and they always turn on You."

The constant serenity of God irritated him.  Even now, throwing the truth into His face, The Creator did not raise his voice.  "Not always.  Did we not both see that when you challenged me to take away all the blessings I had bestowed upon Job?  I tore down the life of one of My most faithful, and still he praised Me.  They know who I am.  They know Their God."

"Well you don't have to sound so smug about it."  The Prince of Lies flinched, aware that he sounded like a petulant child.  He turned his glare back to the planets.  "How do you do it?  How do you keep thwarting me at every turn?"

"Because I am God.  I know all, long before it happens."

"Yes, yes.  Creator of all.  Father of all life.  The greatest power in the universe, I've heard it all before.  But don't you ever long for a challenge?  Don't you ever wish that you could be surprised, just one time during your existence?"

"I cannot be surprised."  He changed the tilt of a nebula.  

"Of course not."  Glittering black eyes flicked unseeingly from galaxy to galaxy when a thought struck him.  "What about that which has already happened?  Who are we to be constrained by such trivial things as time?"

"We are not held by such constraints.  One day for you and I is like an eternity to mortals."

"Exactly."  This just might work.  "I believe that I could come out the victor if I altered something that already happened."

"You are wrong.  I would still win."  Again with that blasted serenity.

"Let us see then, shall we?  I will change an event that happened in the past and we shall see how it alters the outcome."

The Creator was silent for a moment, as if pondering this.  Dare Lucifer hope that He was actually concerned it just might work?  Then, finally, "Very well, You may change a moment in history.  Which moment will you alter?"

The possibilities seemed endless.  Eagerly, the Prince of Darkness looked to the galaxy where Terra lay nestled amongst the stars.  So many possibilities.  This was the first world, the first place where He had created man, although He had reached back further into the past a time or two to add some of the annoying race on other worlds as well.  He could reach back to the day during the Week of Creation and stop the creation of Man, but that would only delay Him for another day before He made them anyway.  Perhaps he could stop Noah from completing His ark, or stop the heart of Mary when she was but a babe in her cradle, but these, too, would only delay Him.

Perhaps he was putting too much emphasis on Earth.  There were so many other galaxies to choose from.  He let his memory wander of the numerous attempts to gain a foothold in this war between himself and Creation.  There had been so many promising mortals, so many who had been willing to wallow in evil and sin for nothing more than a little power during their lifetimes.  He would need to choose one who had the potential to eventually reach outside of his or her own galaxy.

A name brushed across his memory.  Palpatine.  He recalled the withered monster quite well, and even with a little fondness.  Now there had been a tyrant!  Such promise, such willingness to crush the weak and the righteous beneath his heel.  In that galaxy, He was call The Force and he had been known as the Dark Side of that same power.  Lucifer had granted the so-called emperor many boons and much power; enough that he even managed to corrupt a few of His loyal servants.  It had looked as though Satan would win that particular campaign until He had interfered in the guise of a mere boy who just happened to be the son of Palpatine's most trusted servant.  He _could alter the birth of that boy, snuff out the male child and let only the girl survive.  He could even change it so that the mother never escaped her husband and both children, for they were twins, were raised under the watchful eye of Palpatine and their father.  But no, He would only choose another champion._

He pondered on the history of the galaxy.  The girl had fallen in love early on, with someone wholly unsuited for her.  The boy had pined for her, not knowing she was his sister until towards the end, so he had been focused upon his goal.  He had been willing to go to any lengths to please the girl.  Romance, however, was a tricky thing.  Lucifer could easily manipulate using greed and avarice, but love was harder.  Human hearts were so very fickle.  But perhaps he wouldn't have to make the boy fall in love with anyone.  He didn't even have to bring love into the equation.  He just needed to tamper with the so-called Rebellion a bit.  Shake them up by adding or subtracting from the whole.

Adding, that was the key.  By removing someone or something, he only delayed matters.  He would simply choose another vessel.  But if a person or thing was _added, then everything would shift and change around it to accommodate.  But what to add?_

Lucifer found his gaze wandering back towards Terra, and a thought formed.  "What about a little mix and match?"

"You have decided then?"  God stopped fiddling with a star and turned to face his challenger. 

"Yes, I have."  Now he dared to look Him in the face, forcing himself to stay focused so that he did not become ensnared by His beauty.  "I have chosen my moment in history, but I will need something from the present."

The Creator tilted his head to one side, and then nodded.  "Very well.  What do you need?"

Lucifer stopped by the galaxy that held Terra.  Such a wonderfully simple collection of humans could be found on Terra.  They fought amongst themselves for the silliest of reasons and went from total devotion to complete hatred in the blink of an eye.  So easily manipulated and toyed with.  He couldn't use someone who was dedicated to himself, for that person would be too easily detected.  Someone loyal to Him would be all too willing to join the Rebels in their fight.  He needed someone neutral, someone who had no loyalties one way or another.  A soul that was lost because he or she believed in nothing.  Satan's eyes focused through the many stars, turning their attention towards Terra, and searched.  The Americas would be the best place to look, its people having grown jaded and lazy.  On the off chance that the boy could be tricked into falling in love and therefore distracted from his purpose, he would need a woman, someone his age or younger and with comely features.  She would need to be intelligent as well, or the boy would become bored with her too easily.  He concentrated on the more than six billion lives there and found his quarry.

"I shall remove one person from Terra, someone not overly important."

"All of My children are important."  There was no anger, just a simple statement of fact.

"Of course, I know they are important to You.  Still, I'm not going to take one of Your saints or prophets."  He held his hand out over the galaxy and a tiny ray of light shot to his hand.  He closed his fingers over it.  "Aria St. Claire.  An unassuming girl, barely out of her first year of college.  A whiz with computers, more than average musical ability, not unattractive.  Raised in a family where she went to church every Sunday, but like so many 'intellectuals' of her generation, she doesn't really believe that You or I exist."

"I know who Aria St. Claire is."

"Of course you do.  You know everything."  It was said a bit mockingly as the Dark Lord sauntered back over to the galaxy he had chosen.  This was one of the ones that He had turned back in time to seed with Man.  Now Lucifer turned back the clock until he found the time he wanted.  The boy He had used as his champion had just destroyed the first Death Star and the Rebels were looking for a new base of operations.  "I will add her here and we shall see what will become of it all."  He dropped the Terran girl carefully onto the place where the Rebel fleet was positioned, a tiny beam of light streaking towards a point in space that only higher beings could see.  A wooden shoe for the cogs.  A monkey wrench for the machine.  

This was going to be interesting.

~***~

Most of the fighters were in good working order.  Wedge glanced over the duty roster again, noting that Red and Gold squadrons were about to come in from patrol.  The fighters scouted a bit ahead and to the sides of the fleet, making sure that they didn't run into any surprises.  Once they reached the rendezvous point, they would wait for the Princess, Solo and Skywalker to get back from the scouting mission, hopefully with a suitable location for a new base. He hadn't wanted Skywalker to go.  He would have rather kept the boy here, put him through some drills and start teaching him military protocol.  Whether the boy wanted it or not, he was going to find himself in a command position.  After firing the shot that blew up the Death Star, he was more than just a pilot, he had become a symbol.  That farm boy was going to do more for morale of his pilots than a dozen victories.  

He was just about to order Green and Blue squadrons to suit up and get to their fighters when he detected the scent.  It smelled like the air during a lightening storm, but that wasn't possible in the depths of space.  Frowning, he looked around and then heard a sizzling, crackling sound.  Techs were starting to point towards him, and he realized they were pointing behind him.  Wedge turned around and saw what looked like the air itself starting to break and burn, tiny bolts of lightning danced in the space of a corridor, flashes of light that grew more and more numerous.  As though from a great distance, he heard what sounded like some kind of engine, and then everything exploded into a brilliant light.

Wedge threw himself to the side, out of the way of the explosion.  He felt a rush of air as something large flew by him.  The entire bay seemed to shudder as something impacted hard off to his right.  Shouts of confusion and fear were all around him and someone came to his side, inquiring if he was all right.  Wedge looked up, did a quick, personal inventory and nodded before getting to his feet.  He turned, pulling his blaster pistol from its holster, and looked at what was once an orderly stack of supply crates.

Something large and red was now buried amongst the crates.  It had lights that looked more like great, red eyes and was emitting a foul smelling gas from a small pipe.  He could tell that the body was metal and it looked vaguely like the tail end of a speeder, only it didn't appear to be fitted with repulsors.  Instead, primitive wheels could be seen.  Around him troops were aiming their blasters at the thing, prepared for an attack.  Wedge signaled them to back up, and then motioned for two of them to move with him.

They approached it cautiously, not sure if it might be rigged to explode or if Imperial assassins might not leap from it.  Wedge nodded towards one of the men.  "Pull those crates aside, let's get it uncovered."  A few people moved forward and began to clear away the supply crates.  Now they could see more of the strange machine.  It had a closed top with glass windows and was built so that it would cut down on wind resistance.  It certainly wasn't a space worthy vessel. As the crates were pulled away, Wedge could see that there was someone in the front compartment of it, someone who wasn't moving.

He moved up closer and spoke firmly. "Get out of the speeder with your hands up."  There was no response.  Dark hair was obscuring the glass.  He tried it again, repeating himself, and again there was no response.  With a nod of his head, he indicated or the two men close to him to keep their blasters ready then holstered his own.  He studied the panel and noted that it seemed to have a primitive sort of handle mechanism.  Cautiously, he reached out for it, slipping his fingers underneath, and pulled.  

The panel swung open and the person inside leaned out.  They didn't fall, apparently held in by some kind of strap.  A slender arm fell out, pale skin with a metal bracelet at the wrist.  Wedge reached out carefully and felt for a pulse.  He found it, steady and rhythmic.  Moving slowly, he knelt down and pushed the thick hair aside while straitening the person back up.  The stranger was a woman, no more than 18 or 19 from the look of her, with a small cut by her temple where she hit her head against the inside of the vehicle.  "Ma'am?"  He shook her shoulder gently and watched as her face scrunched in an indication of pain accompanied by a barely audible moan.  

"Alert the medical bay; tell them we're bringing someone in."  Wedge reached down and pulled a utility knife from his boot.  Quickly, he severed the strap and freed her, catching her as she murmured a protest of pain again.  "Get me a lift to move her with.  You three, keep your blasters trained on her, but don't fire unless she proves a threat."  The three soldiers to his side nodded in understanding.  The lift was brought over and the stranger was lifted onto it.  Wedge and the three temporary guards moved with it as they had a droid direct it towards med bay.  Let the droids patch her up first, and then they would find out just who she was and just where she had come from.


	2. Bacta Heals all Wounds

**_Plaything of the Gods:_**

**_Bacta Heals all Wounds_**

****

She had the feeling of being wet, like she was submerged in some sort of thick, goopy gel.  Though she was still able to breathe, it was far from a pleasant feeling.  She opened her eyes, but the thick… stuff… with it's slightly greenish tinge was difficult to see through.  She thought she could see people-shaped things walking somewhere in the distance, but it was hard to make them out.  Instinctively she moved her hands before her, noting that there were odd tubes and hoses connected to her, and came in contact with glass.  She pounded on it a few times and thought that one of the blurs looked towards her.  It must have done so, because it made some seemingly decisive movements, after which she heard a series of clunks coming from above her.  Looking up, she noted that light was now shining for a moment, just before something reached down through the goo and took hold of her by her shoulders.  It was hard and cold and felt oddly like metal, but it was gentle as it pulled her up.

The room was much cooler than the gel.  She shivered as the cold hit her, barely aware that someone removed the mouthpiece that had been allowing her to breathe while submerged.  The fact that it was gone was brought clearly to her when her teeth began to chatter.  She tried to look around, but the sudden flooding of light stung her eyes, making it hard to focus.  There were voices all around, blending together into a roar of sound as someone wrapped a thick blanket about her.  "Her vitals are strong.  There is evidence of an old fracture of both bones in the right forearm and metal implants have been used to repair a fracture of the left ankle.  It is well set and the implants can now be removed.  It was not done this time due to the existing physical trauma.  

The voice was strange and unreal, like something off an old eighties movie with a talking computer in it.  She squeezed her eyes shut again before trying to open them once more.  There, that was a little better.  She turned to look at the dark shape to her right, and froze.  It was a bot, but not like any bot she had ever seen.  It looked nothing like the bots in the AI lab.  There was a distinctive, humanoid shape about it, and it was moving about in a bipedal fashion.  Only, it _couldn't_ be bipedal.  Honda Man was the only mostly functional bipedal robot, and he was a large, bulky thing that resembled an astronaut.  And what the hell was it doing with that needle?

Aria let out a yelp and tried to move away from the syringe wielding robot, only to be stopped by the cool metal of the wall behind her.  She felt the blanket about her start to slip but was more interested in keeping away from the non-human thing brandishing a hypodermic.  There were other voices, all jumbled together in her still fogged mind, but the touch of warm flesh made her quite aware that there were other people in the room as well.  She tried to jerk free of the hand that had just wrapped itself around her upper arm, but the stranger's grip was iron strong and unyielding.  A wordless, high pitched scream erupted from her mouth, and something inside her cringed at the 'girly' sound, while some other part of her brain was thankful that none of her family was there to hear it.

"What's wrong with her?"

"She's frightened!  Put yourself in her place!  How would you react, waking up in a room full of strangers?"

"It's all right!  Calm down!  No one is going to hurt you."

All the while, the menacing robot kept advancing towards her.  No one was going to hurt her indeed!  Since when did St. Mary's start using robots?  She threw herself downward, falling off of the bed she was on and landing onto a cold, hard floor.  This broke the grip of her captor for a moment, but too soon a warm, hard weight threw itself across her, pinning her to the floor.  "Calm!  Down!"

She stopped struggling, letting herself go limp.  Her breathing was now hard and fast, and everything was still oddly magnified to her senses.  What the hell had they submerged her in?  However, one didn't grow up as the youngest (and only girl) in a family with nine children without learning a few tricks.  Once her captor was convinced that she wasn't going to fight anymore, he started to release his hold on her.  Once he had shifted his weight from atop her, she used a trick that her brothers still fell for.  

She kicked him.  The man bit off an odd curse in a language she didn't know, but leapt away from her.  In a scramble of arms and legs she started moving away from the voices, trying to get to her feet at the same time.  Her progress was thwarted by what felt like at least two people falling atop her and pushing her to the floor.  One of her arms was wrenched out and held down in an outstretched position.  The robot was coming towards her again, only this time there was no escape.  She felt the long needle pierce her skin, her captors holding her down even as she screamed in protest.  Her screams didn't last much longer, however.  Whatever was in the needle was making her head feel light and her vision grey around the edges until she finally succumbed to darkness.

When she woke up sometime later, she discovered that they weren't taking chances the second time around.  Someone had possessed enough intelligence to restrain her to the narrow bed, a fact she soon discovered when she tried to bring her arms up and couldn't move them more than an inch.  _Damn.  _

Off to her left and out of her line of vision came the cold, metallic voice. "She is awake."  There was the sound of footsteps approaching and soon a man in what looked like a uniform came to stand beside her.  She returned his frank gaze while trying to will herself not to act like a frightened child… or worse… like she was guilty of something.  

"Are you willing to behave yourself, now?"

"Depends.  Who wants me to?"  That was good.  Not even a squeak.  Steady and even.  She let her eyes flick down over the shoulders and chest of the uniform, but didn't find anything. Nothing indicating state police, city cop or even military.  "Who are you?"

The man arched a brow and she thought the corner of his lips twitched briefly.  "Shouldn't that be my question?  After all, you're the one who appeared out of nowhere."

Nowhere?  She was on I540 last she knew.  Her eyes left the stranger and looked around the room.  There were two bots and a few other men in uniform.  That the other men appeared to be armed fueled her growing unease.  She swallowed.  "Is this St. Mary's?"

"St. Mary's?"

"I was just south of the Rogers/Bentonville exit when… when that storm moved in.  That would make St. Mary's the closest hospital."

She seemed to have said something to peak the man's interest, because he motioned for a chair to be brought over so he could sit down by the narrow bed.  "What about the storm?"

This was weird.  Why was some guy who she was definitely starting to think of as military wanting her to talk about some freak lightening storm that forced her off the road?  At least, she thought it had forced her off the road.  She didn't remember much about it, just white streaks of lightening and the feeling like she was being turned inside out.  "I can't remember anything past the lightening.  I… I felt pain.  Did it hit the car?"

He was silent, watching her closely as though he didn't quite believe her.  "What is your name?"

"Aria Danyelle St. Claire.  Look, can I call my parents?  They know I was leaving Fayetteville this morning and they'll expect me home by tomorrow night.  They'll freak if I just don't show up."

"Where are your parents?"

"Sweet Bowl, Michigan.  My family owns St. Claire Farms."  She tested the restraints.  "Can I have these off?  I promise I won't go postal again."

"Why were you in Fayetteville?"

Aria paused.  He had said FayETTville rather than FAYetteville.  No one local would have made such an error in pronunciation.  "Who are you?"  She looked back at the guards.  "This isn't St. Mary's is it?"

He stared at her in silence, not answering her.  The feeling of unease started to grow stronger within her, bringing her very close to a fit of hysterics when the door to the room slid open. The guards snapped to attention and the man in the chair got to his feet and turned to face the newcomer.  Aria turned her head a few inches to see a stately woman in flowing, white garments.  Her face was kind, but strong all at once.  For lack of a more descriptive word, Aria labeled her as 'regal'.

"We have reviewed the recording of your interrogation, Commander, and have come to a decision.  We do not think the girl is a danger to us.  At the worst she is a victim of some Imperial experiment gone wrong, but we do not think her a tool of the Empire itself."

_Empire?_

"What does the council want done with her?"

The stately woman looked over at Aria with an appraising sort of look.  "It would be cruel to leave her on a planet with no knowledge of how the laws work or the local customs.  Also, as she is now, she may inadvertently lead our enemies to us.  We will have to keep her with us, for now."  She looked back to the military-man.  "You will share responsibility of her with the medical staff for now.  Once she has a chance to grow accustomed to us, some task can be found for her."

"Yes, ma'am."  The man didn't salute, but nodded respectfully.  With a soft rustle of robes the woman left.  Aria's mouth felt extremely dry and she wasn't sure she could adequately voice a question without squeaking like an over-excited ferret.

The man turned back around, and now that she could see his face, she could guess he wasn't happy with baby-sitting duty.  "Do you promise to behave yourself if we let you up?"

"Sure, cross my heart."  Okay, only one squeak.  That was acceptable. "But… uhm… could I have some clothes?  This room is freezing."

He gave her a curt nod.  "We had some of your clothing brought here for when you awakened."  He pressed something on what looked like a control panel and the smooth metal restraints opened with a soft click.  "They are over there.  We'll step out side to give you some privacy."

Privacy, however, was only the humans leaving the room.  The bot remained in the room with her, though it seemed uninterested in her at the time.  Sure enough, her largest suitcase was standing by the wall, her trusty and well-worn hikers sitting beside it.  She got off the narrow bed and padded over to it on bare feet.  The chill from the floor seemed to seep into her very bones and she was anxious to get at least a pair of socks on.  Since she had been going home for the summer, she had packed every scrap of clothing she owned.  Arkansas was hot and humid in the summers, oppressively so to a girl from Michigan where the summers were relatively mild.  The winters were nowhere near as cold as she had grown up with, but still cold enough to merit warm clothing even if she didn't feel the need for a coat most days.  Sweaters and flannel lined jeans were bulky, so she had used the largest pieces of luggage to accommodate them.  

Thick socks and flannel lined jeans gave her a feeling of blessed warmth.  Without thinking of what she was doing, she selected her oldest and most worn sweater, one of those her great-aunt Jeanie had knitted for her.  She had long since learned that anything Jeanie made was better constructed and more durable than anything she'd ever found in a store, probably because Jeanie, like everyone else in the St. Claire family, had nothing but sons.  The St. Claires knew well the value of durable clothing that could withstand a rough and tumble life.  Besides, she'd had this sweater since she was sixteen, and although it was far from being the prettiest thing in her wardrobe, it was the softest and most comfortable.

She wasn't going to dwell on how it made her feel a bit less frightened, like wrapping herself up in family love.

She laced her hikers up and then started searching for a mirror.  They hadn't brought in the little duffle with her toiletry items, so she had to settle for using her fingers to comb out her hair.  She would have liked to have her toothbrush and toothpaste to get the gummy feeling out of her mouth (she probably had the world's worst case of morning breath right now) and perhaps her facial cleanser.  Maybe later someone would let her have a shower or something, but she didn't feel very grubby.  She recalled the thick goop she had been in earlier and figured that they must have cleaned her up after they had sedated her.

The room she was in wasn't huge, but it wasn't small.  The walls were a light grey metal without any adornment and there were four narrow beds.  It was obviously a medical room, though she recognized few of what she thought were instruments.  Needles were one thing, but some of these objects that looked like scanners were foreign to her.  She approached one and bent over it, looking for a maker's mark.  She expected to find a little '3M' or 'Dow', even a 'Proctor & Gamble' would be nice, but everything was just a mishmash of metal and blinking lights.  Instead of letters and numbers she could recognized there were odd symbols that didn't look like any language she had ever seen.  

"You are ready?"

She jumped and whirled around.  The bot had addressed her and was now looking at her.  Well, she supposed it was looking at her since there were no identifiable eyes, but it's head was definitely turned in her direction.  "Uhm… yes… yes I think I'm dressed a bit more ready for company."

"Very well."  The bot's hand moved to push a button on the panel before him.  Aria examined the construction of that hand closely.  It was five fingered and looked as though it should be capable of fine manipulation, but the movements seemed a bit jerky and harsh.  She hoped it didn't do surgeries as well.  With that violent start and stop motion it seemed more likely to harm than to heal if allowed near internal organs.

The door opened with a hissing sound and Military Guy entered again, followed by the armed guards.  This continued to make her uneasy.  She was barely five foot five and weighed a whopping one hundred and twenty pounds.  What did they think she was going to do?  Bite their kneecaps off?  "Uhm… so… now what?"

"The galley is about to open for the mid-cycle meal. I thought you might be getting hungry."

"You mean I don't have to eat hospital food?"  From the blank look that he gave her, he obviously didn't get the joke.  "Never mind.  I think I could do with something to eat."

He nodded and turned back around.  Obviously she was meant to follow him with the two goons with the guns following her.  As she stepped out into the corridor she saw nothing that looked like what one would expect in an ordinary hospital.  Most of the people moving about were all in some sort of uniform and there were more bots.  As much as she would have loved to stop someone and grill them about how they managed to consistently produce bipedal robots capable of walking without falling over, she doubted she would be given the opportunity to do so.  And she was too busy trying to figure out just what was going on.

Not St. Mary's.  It wasn't even Northwest Med or Washington Regional.  There was an unmistakable military feel about this place, but the nearest thing resembling a base was in Fort Smith, the complete opposite direction of where she was traveling.  And why was she brought here rather than the nearest medical facility?  She was a cracker, not a hacker.  She busted open shareware from time to time, but she didn't find back doors into banks or federal computer systems.  She was nothing like that moron who tried to hack into the NASA computers last semester.  Okay, so there were some CDs in her bags of questionable origins, maybe even a few that could be called out right piracy, but who could really expect college students to shell out fifty bucks a game!  She and about six other C-SCI and C-SEG students usually chipped in and bought one legitimate copy of a game and some blank CDs, then Frank (the only one who had a burner) would make them all copies.  It wasn't _really stealing.  Frank got to keep the original game because he did most of the work, but they all paid for it._

And you didn't drag people into a secured military facility because of software piracy, especially not when it involved things like Hexen and Quake.  Maybe if they were hacking into Lockheed Martin and ripping off top secret design specs it would be a different story.

They turned into another corridor, this one lined with the occasional window, and continued.  Aria glanced over to her left in hope of seeing something familiar, a landmark of some sort, and froze.  

Stars.  Lots and lots of stars.  No grass, no trees, no wide expanses of asphalt with jeeps and Hummers and helicopters.  Just stars.

"Sir," called out one of the guards as Aria started to back away from the window until her back was flush with the wall behind her.  She wasn't blinking and looked as though she may begin to hyperventilate.  Military Guy noticed this as well and moved towards her.

"Aria?"

She lifted a hand to point a finger at the windows.  "There's no… no ground out there."  Her voice was hardly more than a whisper.  

Military Guy glanced at the window, then at the ashen face of their guest.  He attempted to give a softness to his own voice and reached for her shoulder.  "It's all right.  You're perfectly safe."

She jerked away from his hand and responded more forcefully.  "There is no _ground out there!"  She looked on the verge of a collapse.  He shot a look at one of the guards and mouthed "medic" silently.  "Where is this place?  Where am I?"_

"You are aboard a ship in the service of the Alliance."

"There's no water out there, either."

Military Guy fought a smile, and won.  "It's a space worthy vessel."

Aria gave him a disbelieving look.  "A space ship.  Right."  She started to edge away from him, but the remaining guard stopped her.  "Then why is there gravity?"

"AG generators."  This was said matter-of-factly, as though everyone was expected to know about artificial gravity generators.  

"Uh-huh.   Bullshit."  She looked about her as though searching for an escape route, her hands coming up to comb through her hair.  "Look, no offense, but I'm really starting to freak out here."

Military Guy nodded and looked down the corridor.  "In here."  He led her and the remaining guard to a door in the wall of the corridor which opened into a small, bare-walled room with a gun-metal grey table and twelve chairs.  It looked like a conference room put together by the world's most anal-retentive designer. He pulled out a chair for her along one of the long sides before taking the chair at the 'head' of the table.  "Is this better?"

"A bit.  At least I don't have that feeling like I'm going to be sucked out into space any time soon."

"That can happen at first, to people who have never been on a star ship."  

She placed her hands atop the metal table, her fingers intertwining tightly.  "I'm an American.  We're the world's only superpower, and even we can't build ships this large.  And we don't have an efficient way to create artificial gravity."  She was trying to keep her voice calm, but there was a noteworthy vibrato to it.

"Where would you like me to begin?"

"The beginning is always a good place."

"All right."  Military Guy folded his hands atop the table as well, his gaze steady.  "Four galactic standard days ago there was an electrical disturbance in the hangar.  As of yet we have no information as to how the disturbance began, but your… speeder… came through it and crashed into some of our freight.  We found you inside, unconscious and suffering from extensive internal damage that our medical crew determined was a result of the disturbance.  You were immediately submerged into a bacta tank and remained there until early this cycle.  I'm sure you recall what happened when you were brought out."

"I didn't take it too well."

"No, you didn't.  Lieutenant Kale says you have remarkably sharp heels, by the way.  Of course, you did connect with a rather tender area of his anatomy."

"Sorry about that."

"I don't think he took it personally."  She was still twisting her fingers, but not as nervously as before.  "As you may recall, you were sedated.  The particular serum used is a form of truth drug.  While you were under its influence we took the liberty of questioning you."

"You WHAT!"  She stood up in a flash.  The guard immediately drew his weapon in case she attacked.  Military Guy, however, just held up a single hand.

"We have our reasons for our actions."

"You question me under the influence of a drug, and you say you have reasons for it?  Who the hell do you people thank you are?!"

"We are soldiers, Aria, and we are at war.  If you will sit back down I will explain."

She was about to protest, but the guard now pointing his weapon in her direction was very persuasive.  She took a few deep breaths and sat down, clasping her hands tightly before her once more.  

"I apologize for the invasion of your privacy, but as I said, we are war.  This place you have come to is currently under tyranny, the government is led by one man, Emperor Palpatine.  He strong armed his way into power a little less than two decades ago and has allowed his followers to oppress the free peoples of this galaxy ever since.  Slavery, genocide, atrocities that you cannot begin to imagine.  The Alliance was formed to fight against him, and although we're greatly outnumbered and have nowhere near the financial resources the Empire does, we have been making progress.  Enough so that it would not have been unexpected to have some new and unexpected attack against us.

"That's why we questioned you while you were drugged, when you could not put up a resistance.  When you appeared out of nowhere as you did, we had to operate under the assumption that you could be a possible Imperial agent.  You might have been a spy or an assassin.  It is our responsibility to keep this ship, this fleet and its crews safe."

Aria made a sound that was like a snort and shook her head.  "All right, let's assume that you're telling me the truth and I've somehow been transported into the middle of some badly written space opera; how do I get back to where I came from?"

"We don't have an answer for that.  I wish we did.  The best theory so far is that it was an Imperial attack with some sort of new weapon they were testing, and somehow you were caught in the crossfire.  Or it may have been a kind of spatial anomaly.  There's nothing I can tell you that will give you perfect understanding."

She ran her hands through her hair again.  "That woman who spoke with you earlier…"

"Mon Mothma.  She's one of our leaders and a very well respected woman."

"She said it would be cruel to put me out."

"And it would be.  You obviously come from a world that hasn't mastered space travel yet, and the Empire is not friendly place for even those born and raised within it.  You'll be safer if you stay with us."

"Like a child."

"No, like someone who has found herself in an awkward position and needs our help."

"But there'd be no leaving.  She was right, I could endanger you all if I ever left and someone realized I had been with you."  He didn't respond except to give a slight shrug.  "Look, I can only think that this comes down to three possibilities:  The first is that I've suffered some sort of head trauma and I'm currently lying in a hospital bed in a coma and this is all an elaborate dream.  In that case, you, this ship and everything else is just a figment of my imagination.  The second is that I'm completely insane, and again everything around me is just a figment of my imagination.  The last is that I really am… somewhere… far from my home and with no foreseeable way back."  She paused to take a breath.  "None of those options is very comforting."

"No, I wouldn't think that they would be."  He leaned back in his chair and seemed to be considering the choices.  "I could assure you that you are not suffering from head trauma, at least not any longer though you did have a bad cut on your head when you arrived.  However, if I am a figment of your imagination in the form of a dream, then you can't trust me in that.  I could point out that if you can seriously question your sanity then you are not likely to be insane.  However, again, if I am something your mind concocted, you can't trust me in that, either.  For my part, I believe the third option, that you've somehow been thrown here from what is doubtless a great distance away and we have no idea of how to send you home again.  That isn't comforting in the least, because it means that you will never see your family or friends again.  The only words of comfort I can give you are that there are a lot of men and women on this ship who share your pain.  Those of us who came from Alderaan will never see our home again, either."

"Why not?  What happened to Alderaan?"

"The Empire blew it up."

Aria blinked.  "Excuse me?  Do you mean just pummeled it until it can no longer support life?"

"No, I mean they blew it up.  It's now an asteroid field."

"You're fighting an enemy that has enough firepower to blow up an entire _planet_?"

"Not any longer.  That's why we're moving.  We blew up their super weapon, but they learned the location of our base in the process.  We're re-locating the Alliance."

"They only had the one weapon?  What was it?"

"It was a mobile space station, about the size of a small moon, called a Death Star.  Our information says it was a prototype, to see if it could be done.  More were to follow, but they take years and an extensive amount of resources to build.  It also takes a lot of manpower to run.  We estimate that several hundred thousand, if not close to one million Imperial troops were on the Death Star when it exploded."

"Whoa."  Aria stared down at her hands.  "This has just gone back to the 'elaborate dream' theory.  That someone would even contemplate building something like that is terrifying.  Hitler didn't even have anything like that, and he was a madman bent on world domination and the extermination of the entire Jewish race."

"Palpatine is evil personified.  His right hand man is Darth Vader, and he's chiseled from the same stone.  We had hoped Vader died on the Death Star, but apparently we weren't so lucky.  Towards the end of the battle he joined the fighter to fighter combat and survived."

"Bummer."  Aria sighed and leaned back in her own chair. "Okay, let's say I'm not dreaming and I'm not crazy.  What do I do now?  What _am_ I now?  A prisoner?  I'm a little old to be considered a ward of some sort."

"A guest, for the time being.  Mon Mothma had a good point about finding something for you to do.  I think now that having your first meal in the galley may not be the right thing to do at this time.  We've set aside quarters for you next to the medical bay, just in case there are some side effects from the electrical disturbance that haven't yet manifested themselves. I'll have your meals sent to you there for the rest of this cycle and until my shift is up tomorrow.  I think the first thing to be done is to turn you over to the engineers so that you can go through your personal belongings with them.  They've been examining it on their own, but I know they want to speak to you about nearly everything that was in your speeder.  After that, what would you wish to do?"

She thought a moment.  "Well, I was studying computers with plans to focus on artificial intelligence and robotics, but nothing we've got comes close to what I've seen here so far.  Also, I have yet to see anything that looks like a written language I can recognize.  That's another argument for the dream or insanity theories.  If I've been transported millions or billions of light years from home, how come we can speak the same language verbally?  Shouldn't everything I say be gibberish?" 

"You would think so, but apparently not.  Maybe your world is actually a lost colony of the Old Republic."

"But not even we all speak the same language."

"Really?  Different governments and different languages on the same world?  Interesting.  Still, let's just continue to work with the 'lost traveler' idea.  At the very least your ability to speak Basic should make learning the written language easier than it would if there was a complete language barrier.  One of our pilots is currently on a scouting mission for a new base and he had to leave his protocol droid behind with us.  It's about to drive everyone crazy from lack of anything to do, but apparently it is programmed in about six million different forms of communication.  You can start helping us by keeping it entertained.  C3PO can start teaching you how to read the language and basic customs, and you can take an up close and personal look at our robotics.  It's a relatively old model, so I don't think we'll be risking much by letting you have unlimited access to it.  Just don't break it, or you'll upset Luke."

The door slid open and the other guard came in along with a medic, thankfully a human medic. "It's all right.  She's calmed down."  Aria looked at the newcomers, then back to Military Guy.  "From your reaction earlier I was afraid we were going to have to sedate you again."

She nodded and signed.  "Stranger in a strange land.  I think I'd prefer one of the first two scenarios."

"That you're either in a coma you may never wake up from or insane?  Why?"

"Because if I'm in a coma, I might wake up, and if I'm insane I could get better.  The third option means that I'm all alone."

"You're not alone, at least not if you don't want to be.  If we find an answer to this and a way to send you home, then we'll do our best to do so."

"But as a single individual when you're at war, that's pretty far down on the list of priorities."

"I won't deny that.  But if we work with the possibility that you may never go home again, then you have the option of trying to build a new life for yourself, with new friends and family."

"No man is an island.  Neither is any woman."  She looked back at Military Guy and gave a lopsided, resigned smile before extending a single hand.  "Aria Danyelle St. Claire.  Pleased to meet you."

He smiled back and took her hand.  "Commander Wedge Antilles.  You're a civilian, so you can call me Wedge.  Welcome aboard."  He released her hand.  "It's not going to be easy for you, but never think that you're alone.  For now, we'll get you settled in your quarters and get you something to eat.  After that, I'll surrender you to the engineers.  Be prepared to be bombarded by questions for the remainder of the cycle."


	3. Postcards from Heaven

**_Plaything of the Gods:_**

**_Postcards from Heaven_**

****

Wild horses couldn't have pulled it out of her, but Ari cried herself to sleep.  The single, narrow bed she had been provided with was deceptively comfortable and the thin blanket was made from some sort of hi-tech material that kept her toasty warm, but that did little to relax her. 

During the 'day' she put on a brave face.  The first full cycle had been spent explaining her possessions in detail to the engineers and the quarter master.  To her dismay, the techs in this galaxy didn't hold true to the Sacred Brotherhood of Geeks as they did at the university.  At school, no one would have started discussing the best way to convert her '97 Firebird into a speeder even though she protested it loudly.  They wouldn't have cracked the case on her desktop to see what was inside without asking.  She didn't mind if they wanted to try and record her CDs and DVDs to their own style of data storage (she'd be able to listen to Korn again) but if they lost any of the pieces to her Mindstorms she was going to commit murder.

She would have thought that being a fan of 'Star Trek' and 'Babylon 5' she'd have been eager to explore the ship.  However she had apparently come down with a case of what the medical staff called 'space fright'.

"It's not unheard, even in space faring races.  Some people are just nervous on star ships."  This came from an actual, warm-blooded physician who just happened to have blue skin and long, shapely tentacles coming out of her head. She had patted Ari on her hand and assured her that it would take time to adjust. Until then Ari found herself terrified of large, clear panels of transparisteel that showed the star-scape outside the ship.  She had been assured that they were as thick and as strong the rest of the outer hull and that she was perfectly safe, but Ari still couldn't shake the feeling that one of the windows was going to crack and she'd be pulled out into the cold of space.

That Wedgie guy came around on occasion to check up on her.  He had brought the droid (she had been corrected on what the proper name was the day before) he had mentioned.  C3P0 was tall and golden, and after a short amount of time in his company, definitely certifiable.  The psych majors at UAMS would have loved to get their hands on him, as well as the rest of the guys in her class.  Between the two they might have actually been able to figure out how something man made could have so many neuroses.

Still, as interesting as this place was, Ari wasn't thrilled about waking up inside Roddenberry's head.  If it had all been planned she would have felt better about the whole thing.  As it was, she was too busy being scared and homesick to enjoy any of it.  It all seemed so surreal.  She should have been back home on the farm, arguing with her cousins and brothers, being fussed and fretted over by her mother and many aunts and enjoying Cousin Ella's excellent cherry jam on warm, made-from-scratch biscuits.  Right about now she would have been trying (again) to explain to her father how to work his computer.  After the busy 'day' was over, she found herself longing for any sort of sign in this great mess that would point her back to normalcy.

And thus, she cried herself to sleep each night, her face buried in her pillow and sobs wracking her body.  She wished someone could tell her what to do.  Her family would have told her to 'pray about it'.  That's the sort of answer you go when you came from a large family steeped in religion.  They were big fans of prayers and had never understood her doubts.  She had tried to explain to them time and time again about why she didn't buy into the idea of a great, all-powerful being, but they never got it.  They always told her to 'have faith'.  

Well, she doubted that talking to a diety she didn't even believe in was likely to do her much good.

~***~

Wedge was looking over a report regarding repairs completed on the fighters damaged during the battle over Yavin when the Falcon arrived.  To the eye, the ship was a piece of junk, but true pilots appreciated the Falcon and her captain.    Han Solo may be considered a rogue and a scoundrel by the higher command, but pilots likened him unto a god.  At least a minor god.  

"See you found us."

"Eventually.  It took us a while to decrypt that report you transmitted to Her Worship."

Wedge looked up from his data pad with a frown.  "Weren't you given the key prior to leaving?"

"Oh, we were given it all right, but right after we received the report the translation program decided to crash on us.  Artoo had to rebuild it before we could run it."

Wedge bit back a chuckle and looked back at his data pad.  "Find anything useful?"

"Five possibles, three of them pretty strong, two of them a bit questionable.  Leia and The Kid are hurrying off to give their report.  Speaking of Leia, I don't think she's all that comfortable with the reason why the fleet had to change directions."

"We had to move.  At the time we felt it best to treat it as though it was an attack, and we still can't be too sure it wasn't."

"That's not the problem.  She's uncomfortable about our stow-away."

"Oh, her."

"Yeah, her.  So what do we know about this girl?"

"So far not much.  She comes from a planet that doesn't have interstellar travel yet, although they are starting to explore their own solar system so they're not far off from that.  She can speak Basic, though we can't figure out why, and she's having to learn how to read written Basic.  I volunteered Skywalker's protocol droid for that job."

"You stuck her with that neurotic bucket of bolts?  If she wasn't with the Empire before, she will be by now."

Wedge did laugh this time.  "Actually, she likes it.  Along with not having interstellar travel, they're currently trying to figure out how to build bipedal droids that don't lose their balance and fall over. Every time it starts to rattle on, she starts interrogating it about its internal mechanisms and programming.  She's still working her way through children's' stories now, but we think once she gets a good grasp of the language we can turn her over to the engineers or the techs and put her to work."

"Can she be trusted?"

"We can trust her as far as she can trust us.  I think she's still hoping that she'll wake up and we'll have all been a bad dream or some bout of temporary insanity."

"Huh, there are you, minding your own business and suddenly you're in the middle of a war that has nothing to do with you.  Yeah, I can see where you'd want that to be a bad dream.  I was gonna ask Luke for Goldenrod so that he and Artoo could help Chewie and me with the Falcon.  You want us to keep her busy for a while, get her exposed to some tech?"

"She won't come here."

"Why not?"

"Huge case of space fright."

Han blinked.  "Really?"

"Hugs the inside walls if she has to use an outside corridor and refuses to set foot in the hangar bays.  She admits that she knows she's not going to be sucked out into space, but she can't stop herself from feeling like she's going to be."

"Ouch, this has got to be rough on her."

"The engineers don't mind.  It means that she can't yell at them any more."

"What was she yelling at them for?"

"They're trying to re-fit her speeder to our own technology.  She got upset when they mentioned it.  It's something called a 'Firebird', and apparently they don't make them anymore.  She was carrying on about how re-fitting it will keep it from ever being a classic."

~***~

"Very good, Miss Aria!  You've completed this set far more quickly that I would have expected."

"Great!  Now can I have something a bit more interesting?"

"Of course.  I've acquired a trilogy you should enjoy.  It's a fictional account of…"

"3PO, I meant can I have something _useful?"_

"Useful?"

"Yeah, a tech manual, maybe the programming code for some antiquated system that's not used all that much anymore?  Surely _that_ wouldn't be considered sensitive information.  I'm _nineteen_!  I don't want to read fairy tales and nursery rhymes.  I got my fill of those with Mother Goose back in pre-school."

"I understand that you may be feeling frustrated…"

"_May_ be?  Oh, I passed frustration four stories ago with _Malkoa and the Oliopter_."

"_Malifasser_," corrected the droid automatically, "but you have to understand that you started with no knowledge of the written language at all!  Not even the basic characters."

"But I can now recite the basic characters backwards, forwards and while standing on my head!  Can't I have just one 'grown-up' thing?"

"I just don't know…"

Aria clasped her hands together underneath her chin and gave the droid the same expression that had always worked on her grandfather. "Please?"

"Well, I don't know if I could get permission to give you a technical manual, but I might be able to find something that would work as a practice exercise.  You do have a strong grasp of mathematics."

"You're going to teach me reading with numbers?"

"It _is _possible, if we were to approach cryptology about it.  There are several different Imperial encryption codes that the Alliance is attempting to break.  It's difficult and complex work involving trying to determine what words different sequences of numbers corresponds to."

"That'll work!"  Aria scrambled off her narrow bed with a smile.  "Let's go.  Chop chop!"

"I'm still not certain about this.  I should ask Commander Antilles…"

"Why do you have to take everything to that guy?  Take some chances!  Live a little!  What are you, chicken?"

"It's not that we don't trust you, it's just that in many ways you are inexperienced in this world.  You could make choices that are lacking in wisdom…"

"C3P0," Aria began, stepping closer to the droid while putting her hands in the back pockets of her jeans, "I adore you.  I think you're a mechanical marvel."

The droid was instantly flattered and flustered.  "Oh, well, Miss Aria… that is very kind of…"

"But if you make me read one more story about some stupid, insipid, fluff-for-brains princess who gets into trouble because she ignored the advice of people wiser and smarter than she is to the point that some larger-than-life, holier-than-thou hero has to pull her ass out of the fire, I'm going to personally dismantle you until there's nothing left but tiny little bolts."

"Oh."  The droid fell silent for a moment.  "We should hurry if we are going to reach cryptology before they break for meals."

~***~

Luke was grateful to finally be out of the debriefing.  Of the five locations for a new base they had found, really only two of them 'felt' right.  It was foolish that they could keep to one place any longer than a year or so, but it was important that they find a temporary home.  Being in space for too long could do funny things to the mind, people could begin to crack under such conditions.  That was why shore leave was so important, as much to the Imperial troops as it was to the Alliance.  Personally, Luke favored the second planet.  It had been full of lush, green forests and riddled with rivers and lakes.  Having grown up on Tatooine, which had been nothing more than one gigantic ball of sand, he was able to appreciate such simple things as trees and lakes.

"You didn't tell me that we had to go through _there to get to cryptology."_

"Miss Aria, if you are going to be on a star ship then you must make more of an effort to get over your fear of the port windows."

"It's not the windows that frighten me.  It's the thought that they may break and I'll get sucked out into the cold vacuum of space."

Luke frowned in puzzlement.  He recognized his protocol droid's voice easily enough, but the other was that of a woman not known to him.  Of course, he had only heard mention of her name when Leia was puzzling over the report that had been transmitted to them.  It had been the stranger's arrival which had caused the fleet to relocate without notice.  Curious, he rounded the corner and found C3P0 standing there next to a young woman who was leaning against the wall, her head tilted downward as she concentrated on taking deep breaths.  Her clothing was strange and she was clutching a data pad in one hand.

"You _were _the one who insisted we go there."  The droid make a tsking noise before noticing him.  "Master Luke!  It _is good to see you back."_

"It's good to see you, too, 3P0."  The girl gasped and stood up straight as though to high her recent discomfort with bravado.  She squared her shoulders and raised her eyes to meet his.  For some reason unknown to him she seemed to falter after that.  "Hello."

"Uhm… hi."  She had clear, green eyes, but they only stayed on him for a moment before dropping down.  She appeared to want to look anywhere but at him as she tucked a stray lock of black hair behind her ear.  

"Master Luke, this is Miss Aria St. Claire.  Commander Antilles asked me to help her learn written Basic."

Ben hadn't had much time to teach him, but Luke had a solid grounding in the basic flows of the Force.  He knew enough to detect raw emotion, and he could tell that Aria was… nervous.  Extremely so.  "I figured as much.  A report was sent to us to explain why the rendezvous point had to be moved." He couldn't sense any malice or threat from the girl, but she was definitely uncomfortable.  "It's nice to meet you.  How are you coming along in your lessons?"

"Oh… well… they're okay."  

"We have just returned from Cryptology.  Miss Aria has a very solid grounding in mathematics, and since numerical values are immutable, I thought she might find it more challenging if she were to try working on some of the Imperial codes the Alliance has been trying to break."

As if to confirm C3P0's report Aria briefly held up the data pad in her hand.  Luke nodded.  "Maybe you'll have more luck at it than we've had so far.  Another mind couldn't hurt."  Aria made a non-committal noise in the back of her throat and stared at the floor.  Luke finally located the problem and was shocked to realize that he was the one making her nervous.  He didn't understand why, but he was definitely the source of her anxiety.  "3P0, Han said something about needing you to help him out with some repairs on the Falcon.  He's in hangar six."

"I'll see to it as soon as I have escorted Miss St. Claire back to her quarters, Sir."

"Thanks."  Luke gave Aria another smile.  "It was nice meeting you."

She nodded just a bit.  "Ditto."  

He wasn't sure what 'Ditto' meant, but he let it slide.  He'd talk to Leia about the girl's odd nervousness, though.  He knew that the princess was worried about them carrying an unknown variable with them, but something told him that she wasn't a threat.  She seemed too… unnerved to be a threat.  "C3P0, I'll catch up with you later in the hangar.  I have something to take care of first."

"Very good, Sir."

Luke left them in the corridor and was well out of sight before Ari let out a groan and banged her head against the smooth metal of the walls.

"Is something wrong, Miss Ari?"

"Wrong?  Oh, no, nothing's wrong.  I just made a complete idiot of myself, but everything's fine!  Just peachy."

"I'm afraid I don't understand."

"Never mind.  Just me losing all ability at higher thought in the face of a cute, blue-eyed blond.  Nothing out of the ordinary here."  With a sigh she pushed herself away from the wall.  "Let's get out of here before I make an even bigger fool out of myself."  She took off without waiting for a response, leaving the droid to rush to keep up.  Once they made it back to her quarters he bade her farewell and hurried off to help that Han person the cute blonde had mentioned.  The moment the door was shut behind her, she fell face forward onto her bunk.

"I. Am. Such. A. Loser."

Ari had never really gone for the tall, muscle-bound guys.  She was related to too many of them.  She preferred guys who were closer to her own height and used their brains rather than their brawn.  Granted she had no idea if 'Luke' had more than two brain cells to rub together, but he fit her physical requirements.  Thank Heavens none of her brothers were around to needle her about that pathetic display.

She didn't bother to lift her head from the blanket until after the pulled the data pad towards her.  Only then did she prop herself up onto her elbows.  Dwelling on embarrassing moments wasn't going to help any.  She tapped the pad and watched as the Basic characters appeared.  When she had first seen them she had thought they looked a lot like the writing used in the _Predator movies.  She still thought that, actually.  Now if only Arnold Schwarzenegger would come crashing through the door ready to bust her out of this joint!_

They had explained everything too her when they had handed her the pad.  The characters were scrambled, each corresponding to a different number which referred back to a different character.   However, they weren't as straight forward as just letter to number to letter.  Sometimes there were grouping of two, three or four.  They had computers working on the task as well but the codes were not always designed by computers.  Machines couldn't think creatively, so many times men would set the codes.  The trick was trying to figure out what the enemy was thinking when they did this.

If nothing else it would keep her busy.  She wished she had some scratch paper or one of her left-over blue books to work with, but that would involve going to Hangar Bay 8 where most of her things were stored by a wall and there was a big, huge opening with only a force field between her and space.  She rather thought she'd suffer without it.  Instead she opted for calling up a sub-screen and copying down the characters in a single column so she would be able to use a process of elimination.  It would be long and tedious work, but it would be something other than fairy tales.

She didn't know how long she had been working, only that her eyes were itching from weariness and staring too long at the screen.  So intent she was on her work that she didn't snap out of it until the door opened and someone came in hurriedly.  She jerked her head up in surprise and instantly regretted it as a sharp stab of pain shot behind her eyes.  Closing them quickly she brought a hand up to rub at them.  "W'sup?"

Wedge's voice filtered towards her.  "You didn't answer the door chime.  I thought something might be wrong."

She blinked her eyes a couple of times to clear her vision, then looked at him.  He had his side arm drawn and was in a battle-ready stance.  Ari quirked a brow at him and tried not to smile as he re-holstered the pistol.  "Sorry.  I guess I got too wrapped up in this."

"The cryptology assignment?  How's it coming along?"

"I've made absolutely no headway whatsoever."  She turned around and sat up, crossing her legs on the cot.

"Ready to give up?"

"Nope.  I'll just have to keep hammering at it until I make some progress."

"That should keep you busy for a while."

"And out of your hair."

"I didn't say that."

"No, but you thought it."

"I won't deny that."

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

"Nothing really. Han came back today and offered to let you get some tech exposure."

Ari sat up straighter.  "Really?"

"There's a catch."

"What kind of catch."

"You would be working on his ship."

"Which would be in a hangar."  

"Where else?"

Ari gave him a short raspberry and scowled.  "Well, that's no fun.  Can't he take the ship apart and carry it piece by piece to somewhere inside?"

"Now you're just complaining."

"It's what I do best."

"Well, the offer is there if you want to take advantage of it.  There's always something on the Falcon that needs to be repaired, so he'll welcome you at any time."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Wedge gave her a grin.  "You're doing just fine, Ari.  I know it's been tough on you, but you've risen to the occasion.  I wish some of my pilots had half your courage."

She gave an inelegant snort.  "Yeah, courage.  I'm soooo brave I can't even stomach the thought of walking past a set of windows."

"But you do it if you have to.  There are people far weaker in this galaxy, some who would have to be kept under constant sedation.  You're allowing yourself to adjust, and that's a big step in the right direction."

"Thanks."  She meant it.  It helped a bit to know that her discomfort at being here wasn't being frowned upon.  Wedge gave her a nod.

"Get some sleep.  It's getting late."  He turned around and left the room, the door sliding shut behind him.

"Late?"  Craning her neck around she found the time clock on her utilitarian table.  "Aw hell!"  The final meal for her 'cycle' had been served three hours ago and it would be another three before the next meal was up.  She gave a low growl as she fell back onto her pillow, staring at the ceiling as she debated on whether she wanted to try to stay awake long enough for the next meal or if she just wanted to go to sleep and wait for her own breakfast.  Deciding that since she was still fighting her 'Freshman Fifteen', she'd give in to sleep, Ari got up and set the data pad on the table before stripping down to sleep.  She'd taken to sleeping in an over-sized shirt her friends at school had gotten for her as a joke.  It was blaze orange and had 'L33T SUPA H4X0R' emblazoned on the front in black.  It was a joke because Ari wasn't a hacker, looked dreadful in orange and she positively loathed 'net speech'.  Still, it was long enough that it fell almost to her knees and was soft enough to be comfortable.

Once she had slipped under her thin blanket and the lights were out she tried to go to sleep.  This was the hardest part of the day.  While she was up running about, trying to learn how to read all over again and trying to figure out where her 'niche' was in this place her mind was kept too busy to dwell on her current predicament.  Once all was quiet, however, her mind kicked into overdrive and memories came floating up to the surface.

The worst part was what she had dubbed 'The Soundtrack'.  She didn't just have memories, but she heard their voices and their laughter.  She heard her mother singing to the radio, badly off-key as usual, and her father's deep, booming bass as he had stood beside her at church when she was a child.  She heard her brothers and cousins with their sing-song taunts when they had teased her as a child and (oddly enough) The Pledge of Allegiance.  She screwed her eyes shut as though to force the sound out of her head.

_Bringing in the sheaves._

_Bringing in the sheaves._

_We will come rejoicing_

_Bringing in the sheaves._

Aria loved music, perhaps it was a side effect of being named as she was.  However, as beautiful as church hymns were, it cut her to the quick to remember them being sung by the parishioners of the Sweet Bowl Lutheran Church, most of whom she was related to.  

_Some glad morning when this life is o'er_

_I'll fly away!_

_To that land on God's celestial shore!_

_I'll fly away!_

With a growl she flipped over onto her stomach and smashed her pillow over her head.  The rational part of her mind pointed out that in times of trial and trouble people always flocked to religion.  Church attendance always sky-rocketed in times of war and disaster.  Since she had been raised in a devoutly religious household, the church had been a key point in her life while growing up, and therefore was intricately intertwined with memories of home and family.  It was only natural that, in her current state of distress, the memories of church hymnals and flowing voices haunted her in the dark and quiet.

_What a privilege to carry…_

_Everything to God in prayer!_

"Aaargh!"  She threw her pillow across the room and pushed herself into a kneeling position on the cot.  "All right already!  Lights!"  The room was again flooded by a white glow.  If she were dreaming or crazy, adding talking to herself at this point wasn't going to make matters any worse.  It couldn't make them any better, but it certainly couldn't get any worse.  The trouble was… how did she begin?  Did she kneel or something?

She settled for standing up and pacing the narrow room on bare feet as she glanced at the ceiling.  "Okay, let's get one thing straight from the start.  I don't believe in You.  You got that?  I don't buy into the concept that there's this all-powerful, Supreme Being that created everything in the universe.  I mean, it's just too silly.  One entity creating all life?  That's just too much for one _anything_ to do.  However, nothing else seems to be working, so what harm can it do to talk to someone I don't believe in?

"But if there is a You, a God, then I could use some help here.  I mean, my life is seriously screwed up right now, in case you haven't been watching.  Either comatose, completely nutzoid or billions of light-years away from home.  All three fall under the category of 'seriously screwed up'.  I'm sure You'll agree."

She sighed and raked her fingers through her hair.  Funny.  If nothing else, ranting out loud was making her feel better.  "If there is a You, then You know my family.  You know what they're like.  I mean, I am the first girl to actually be born into the St. Claire family for six generations.  That's a lot of boys, and those people didn't have a _clue_ what to do with a girl when I was born. I can't even imagine what my parents are going through right now.  They didn't even want me to go so far away for college, and now I just *poof* out of known existence, Firebird and all?  Come on, even You can understand that is a lot to put them through.

"And that's just if I really am sane and awake.  If I'm not, they're still going through hell right now.  Dad's probably sitting by my bed, holding my hand in his and crying like a baby.  He's a proud man!  Don't let him cry like a baby!  If You're really there, then _do something!  If I'm asleep, wake me up!  If I'm crazy, unscramble what's left of my mind and let me be myself again!  If I'm really in another galaxy…"_

She trailed off, swallowing hard.  She was starting to feel angry, like the whole universe was out to get her.  "If I'm in another galaxy, then please send me home.  What am I supposed to do here?  What _can _I do here?  These people are light years ahead of anything I know.  It would take a dozen lifetimes to figure all this out, and in case it slipped Your notice, my name ain't Methuselah.  Just what in the name of all of creation am I _doing _here?  You're God!  Aren't You supposed to guide my kind?  Aren't You supposed to give us hints along the way, pointed us in the right direction?  Give me something!  A sign!  A Broadway musical!  Ben Stein!  Al Sharpton!  Hell, a fucking postcard would be nice!  Just… just…"

The tears were coming now, hot and steady.  They streamed down her cheeks as she sobbed.  "Just something to tell me what I'm supposed to do."  She covered her face with her hands and knelt down by her cot, her shoulders shaking as she tried not to cry too loudly.

She barely heard it.  It was a faint hiss, followed by a crackling sound, somewhere above her.  Ari lifted her face from her hands and saw something rectangular and white fluttering down from the ceiling above.  Its descent was hypnotically slow as it twisted and turned over itself, eventually coming to land on the rumbled blanket of her cot. She stared at it a moment before reaching out to pick it up.

It was a piece of thick poster board, about 3.5" by 5".  The picture on the front was moving, but it was so bright she had to squint her eyes to look at it.  She could make out something golden and gleaming, like a street or road, and tall mansions that looked to be carved of crystal or blinding white marble.  There was an intangible serenity about it that forced a smile from her lips.  She stared at it a moment longer before she turned it over to look at the back.

_Aria,_

_Everything is beautiful here.  The weather is perfect and there are some family and old friends who would like to see you again.  Hope you can join us one day.  Until then, play to your strengths._

_Love,_

_God_

Ari felt herself go very cold as all the blood fled from her face.  She swallowed hard and looked up at the blank, cold ceiling.  A chill ran down her spine.  "Holy shit."  She looked back down at the postcard in her hand to see that something had been added.

_P.S.  Do try and watch the swearing._

The whole world went black.


	4. Pesky Corellians

_Okay, quick disclaimer:  Try as I might, I've had absolutely no luck whatsoever in uncovering the books an comics needed to get the proper timeline down between movies.  So, if the _Executor_ is here sooner than it would have been built or people are bumped up in rank faster than canon, don't shoot me.  Besides, this is an AU story, so things aren't expected to be perfect, are they?_

****

**_Plaything of the Gods:_**

**_Pesky Corellians_**

****

"Well, that went well."  

"It is exactly as I expected."

"You expected her to pass out cold?  Aren't you supposed to be the 'Good Guy' in all of this?"  Lucifer scowled down at the still form of Aria St. Claire where she lay on the cold metal floor of her quarters, the 'post card' still clutched in her fingers.  

"Something vexes thee?"

"She shouldn't have been this quick to start talking to you.  Are you cheating?"

"Lies and cheats are your arena, not Mine."  The Creator smiled serenely as he gazed down at the girl.  "You underestimated just how deep the teachings are instilled within her.  Many of My Children stray from Me, but many of them return in the end.  A moment of doubt does not damn them in My eyes."

"Yeah, whatever."  So the chit gave in to the desire to fall back on prayer a little sooner than he had hoped.  He had also seen her get her feet swept out from underneath her just from meeting Skywalker.  Humans and their hormones.  Take one healthy young woman, add one healthy young man, sit back and watch the sparks fly.  Those two would be at one another like canines in heat before a month had passed.  The girl may choose the path of righteousness, but she would still shake the foundations of what was already there.

~***~

Luke's eyes popped open.  He had been in the middle of meditating when he had felt it, a sort of hiccough in the Force.  No, not a hiccough… a jolt.  Somewhere on this ship there had been a massive surge of the Force, but it had vanished as quickly as it had happened, too quickly for him to pinpoint where it had come from.  He frowned and tried to 'reach out', keeping his mind focused on trying connect with the Force.  He almost had it when there was another jolt, not quite as powerful as the one before, but there all the same.

The would-be Jedi rose from his position by his bunk.  He tried to recall what Ben had told him about fluxes in the Force.  They came about at the time a child was born or someone died.  They happened when a Jedi or Force user reached out with the Force to affect something, and they happened when the Force 'decided' to interfere.  _Most times the Force lets us go our own way, choose our own path.  Every now and again, however, it will give us a 'push' in the right direction._

Was he being 'pushed'?  No, the fluctuations weren't directed at him, or he would have felt them more clearly.  No one on the ship was expecting, soon-to-be-mothers were sent planet side for birthing for the safety of themselves and their infants.  A death then?  He considered this for a moment, and then discounted it.  It hadn't felt like someone dying.

So who was getting the 'push'?  Another Force Sensitive he was unaware of?  Whoever it was, they were definitely on this ship.  Or at least they were a second ago.

~***~

Ari woke up feeling cold and stiff.  It took her a moment to realize that she was lying in the metal floor next to her bunk.  It took a minute after that before the memories of why she had passed out next to her bunk came flooding back to her.  She sat upright and stared at her left hand, finding the postcard still clutched tightly in her fingers.  The picture on the front was still blindingly bright and there was still the effect of vague, humanoid shapes moving along golden streets.  She flipped it over and saw that the writing was still there as well.

"I'm fucked."  As soon as the words had left her mouth a sort of electrical charge shot from the card to her hand. She yelped and dropped it, shaking out her now numb fingers.  "Oh, right.  Mind the swearing.  Sorry."  She sucked on the fleshy web between index finger and thumb to try and relieve the discomfort there, all the while her mind spinning.

_Okay, apparently there is a God… and He's got a rather strange sense of humor.  Reminds me of Grandpa Huey._

This was a rather messy pickle.  Now she had to rethink her entire theory on life, the universe and everything.  Apparently the answer wasn't '42', no matter what Douglas Adams said.  What did a confirmed atheist do when confronted with the knowledge that there was a God?  Did she beg forgiveness for every little wrong she'd done in her life, with the possible exception of the time when she used her brother Danny's toothbrush to brush the dog's teeth with and didn't tell him (he had deserved it for 'operating' on her favorite doll) or did she rant and rave for all the injustices in her life, both real and imagined?  Somehow she didn't think this was the time for complaining.

"What I wouldn't give to have Reverend Haynes here right about now."  Oh, that would be a nice conversation.  'Pastor, I'm a bit confused about what to do.  You see… I got this postcard from God...'  That would be a one way ticket to the rubber room for sure.  

She looked back down at the postcard.  "Uhm… hi.  So... uhm… You do this often?"  The writing remained unchanged.  "Right… I guess not.  I don't remember any stories from children's church about You sending a lot of postcards.  There was some writing on a wall once, though.  I do remember that.  I just can't remember what it was about.  Someone probably pi… uhm… got you really angry."

She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her right ear.  Now what?  Glancing down at the card again, she reread the only line that could be considered an instruction (other than the postscript), _play to your strengths.  What were her strengths?  She wasn't some overly muscled Kung Fu chick and as good as her grades were she wasn't the Einstein of her generation.  What did she do best besides fighting back against the tyranny of an overly male household?  Well, she knew Perl and C++ like the back of her hand, and she could fumble her way through some of the less popular languages as long as she had her reference book (Hangar 8, again), but she doubted that any of her programming knowledge would help here.  More advanced computers, more advanced robotics and not a Linux box in sight except the one that the techs were currently dismantling.  _

_Okay, so first I have to learn how to read all over again, and now I have to learn how to code all over again.  At least the coding will be easier.  It never resembles writing much, anyway._  Of course, that meant learning an entirely new operating system, or systems, and she could only do _that if they felt they could trust her enough to let her around current tech.  Wedgie was a nice guy, but he was far too cautious.  She knew she was trustworthy?  Shouldn't that be enough?  The Department of Homeland Security wasn't as uptight as that guy.  He made Ashcroft look like a New Age yoga guru._

Her musings were cut short by her stomach's loud grumbling.  She looked over at the clock, expecting to find that she had another five or six hours until time to eat and was surprised to find that she had been out far longer than she had thought.  She had only a little more than what she still called an hour before time to eat, enough time to get cleaned up.  She was an old hand at the 'fresher now, though she had been forced to ask one of the female medics exactly how to use it at first.  That had been one of her more embarrassing moments in life, but she had survived it.  Only slightly worse was having to ask what they did for _that time_.  Jeans, tee, socks, hikers and a scrunchie later she was ready to face the … uh… ship.  

She had made it a point to find out how to reach the galley without going through an outer corridor.  Something had told her that breakfast, lunch and dinner wouldn't sit well on a stomach churning with fear.  Before leaving her quarters, however, she thought it better to stash her postcard.  She hoped the All Mighty didn't mind her hiding it underneath her bras.  

This early in the cycle there were very few people in the Galley.  Most of those present were pilots, either just coming off patrol, getting ready to start patrol or preparing for drills.  The techs in this galaxy held true to the same practice as the geeks in her own; sleep as long as you can without getting into serious trouble or missing classes.  They even had their own equivalent for caffeine, although she had yet to run across a substitute for Doritos or pizza.  Sometime in between the two classes everybody else would filter through in various states of wakefulness.  Usually Ari ended up eating alone at the end of one of the long tables at the very end of the meal cycle.  She had no reason to believe she wouldn't be sitting alone at the very beginning of it.  

"Hello, Ari.  Keeping pilot hours today?"  She jumped and looked up to see Wedge grinning down at her.  He set his tray across from her's and took a seat.  "I thought you didn't even start breathing for another hour or so."

"Oh… I just sort of woke up a bit early.  Wasn't enough time to get any more sleep in."

"That happens to me, too, sometimes."  He spotted someone over her shoulder.  "Luke!  Over here!"

_Uh oh._

The cute, blue-eyed blonde from the previous cycle came over with his own tray, stopping briefly to grab a piece of fruit from the end of the serving line.  He nodded in greeting to some pilots over at another table as he walked over to join Wedge and Ari.  "When did the fruit come in?"

"A couple of cycles ago.  The quartermaster traded some statues he pulled out of Yavin for about twenty crates of the stuff.  They're all different, and I don't recognize half of them, but it's nice to have something fresh for a change."  Luke grinned in response as he started to cut into his breakfast.  "Luke, I want you to meet someone.  This is our guest, Aria St. Claire.  Ari, this is Luke Skywalker, hero of the rebellion and the best star pilot in the galaxy."

Luke's face went scarlet.  "Wedge, cut it out."

  


"He's also very humble and modest."

Luke gave the other pilot a sharp jab in his ribs.  "I've already met her.  She was with 3P0 when I found him yesterday.  Good to see you again, Aria."  She gave a weak smile and a nod before lowering her eyes to her tray again.  Suddenly she wasn't all that hungry.  Wedge noted the odd behavior from someone who was usually a pretty friendly and outgoing sort of person.  He frowned, looking from Ari to Luke who gave a shrug.  "I make her nervous."

Ari looked up quickly.  "No!  No… you don't.  Well… maybe a bit."  She looked back down at her tray again, her face flushing crimson.

"Nervous?"  Wedge looked back to Ari's flaming face and then to Luke's calm expression.  "Really?"  A rather uncharacteristically impish grin tugged at the corners of his mouth.  "How interesting."  Both Luke and Ari gave Wedge an inquiring look, but he merely brushed it aside.  "Han asked Ari to help him out with the Falcon, but I don't think she's going to do it."

"Don't let Wedge get to you.  Lots of people have space fright. You'll get over it once you get used to it.  Besides, we'll be moving to set up a new base soon and you'll be able to put your feet down on a planet again."  She responded with something that sounded amazingly like a squeak.  Luke merely smiled and used his knife to cut the piece of red, plump fruit in half.  He offered one of the halves to Ari.  "First rule about space travel: If there's fresh fruit, grab a piece.  You never know when you'll have to chance next."  Ari accepted the offering with a shy 'thank you'.  Neither of them noted Wedge watching them curiously out of the corner of his eye.  "So, Wedge, what have you been doing while you were waiting?"

"Repairing the fighters that made through the battle and cannibalizing some old fighters to make new ones.  We've got about forty flight-worthy ships, now.  Next step is to get pilots to fly them. We're down to fourteen."

A somber air settled over the two men as they remembered the ones who had fallen in the battle over Yavin.  "How do we go about recruiting new pilots?"

"Oh, that's the easy part.  We've sent out feelers to various sectors and the word coming back is that there are plenty of people wanting to throw their lot in with us after that shot you made.  The hard part will be finding people who can actually fly."

"Who's going to teach them?"

Wedge grinned at Luke.  "I would suggest you, but I think you'd be too much of a slave driver.  How about Solo?"

Luke nearly choked on what passed as a biscuit from laughing so hard.  "Han?  Sure, if you want them to learn how to smuggle contraband past Star Destroyers, but shouldn't they learn how to fight ship to ship?"

"Good point.  Well, as a Commander, training would be part of your duties."

Aria looked up quickly when she heard Luke's cutlery fall to his tray.  "Commander?"  He looked as though someone had hit him in the back of the head with the blunt side of an axe.  "I'm not a Commander.  I don't even think I have a rank.  I wasn't actually part of the Alliance when I flew with you over Yavin; I was just a warm body who knew how to pilot a ship."

Wedge gave a snort.  "As if we'd let you walk out now.  Luke, they promoted _me_ to Commander when you went out on your scouting mission.  We're the only two X-Wing pilots that flew at Yavin that made it out.  We're more symbols than pilots now, you more than me.  You don't make symbols into mere pilots, you put them someplace where they'll shine.  Face it.  You're a Commander as soon as they can wrestle you to the decking long enough to pin the insignia on you."

Luke had gone a pale shade of green.  He looked at his tray a moment before pushing it away.  His eyes then came up and looked into Ari's.  A sort of half smile kicked up one side of his face.  "Bet this is making quite an impression.  A nineteen-year-old moisture farmer from Tattoine being thrust into a position of rank.  Must make the Alliance look real organized."

Was he talking to _her_?  Ari's stomach gave a funny little clench and she thought she might pass out.  She dared a smile.  "It's not too off the wall."  Not a single squeak.  That was better than she had hoped for.  "I… history was never my strong point, but I think I remember that people tend to get promoted faster in war.  People higher in the ranks get killed and… and you have to put someone in their places.  It seems natural that you'd pick those who… distinguished themselves."

"There, see Luke?  You're distinguished." 

"Shut up, Wedge."

"Hey, watch your mouth, Pilot.  I outrank you at the moment."  Wedge's expression didn't match the threat.  "Anyway, if you're done eating we'd better get going.  There's a lot of work to be done if we're going to be ready to move to the new base site."  He got out of his seat and picked up his tray to carry it over to the kitchen window.  Luke looked across the table to Aria.

"Can you think of any way for me to get out of this Commander thing?"

She looked back at him, internally grateful that she was starting to feel a bit less shy.  "Run really fast so they can't catch you to wrestle to the decking to pin the insignia on?"  She was rewarded by a smile and a laugh.

"It's too bad there's not enough places on a star ship to hide."  She found herself sharing his laughter until Wedge's voice rose across the room in a shout.

"Hey, Luke!  Stop flirting with the pretty girl and let's get going!"

Luke's face went scarlet, topped only by the shade of ripe cherries that Ari's had become.  Both were painfully aware that everyone in galley, which included the rest of the fighter pilots, fighter techs and a good number of the infantry, had turned around to stare at them.  Luke mumbled something that sounded like a good-bye and got up, hurrying to put away his tray and escape the galley.  Aria would have given just about anything to evaporate on the spot.

~***~

It bothered Leia that everyone seemed to ready to accept this Aria St. Clarie.  She had reviewed the full report and watched the footage of her interrogation while drugged.  True, it was likely that the girl was telling the truth, but she could also be telling what she believed was the truth of she had been re-programmed by the Empire.  With most of the remaining information available on the Jedi and the Sith being nothing more than legends, how could they know what Lord Vadar or the Emperor were actually capable of.  

  


She looked at the perfectly innocent door before her, the first door to the right of the entrance to the medical bay.  According to Mon Mothma they had put her here in case she had any unforeseen difficulties.  They hadn't expected any, but there were a few minor differences in her physiology that were likely the result of the environment she grew up in.  Sometimes even the smallest abnormalities could react badly to innocuous things.  People had been known to have allergic reaction to being in recycled air too long or the nutrient supplements that were used to compensate for a sporadic diet.  The medical staff knew everyone else on the ship by heart, so they kept the unknown quality close at hand.

She reached out and touched the door chime.  From inside the quarters a young voice shouted something that sounded like "Enter if you dare."  Leia gave the door a quizzical look before opening it.  She found her quarry stretched out on her stomach across her bunk.  The room was still rather sparse, just the wardrobe, the bunk, a single small table and a metal chair.  Most everyone else on the ship had a few, small, portable items that could make their quarters somewhat more homey.  Either St. Claire like her quarters Spartan or no one had told her she could bring in some of her personal effects.

The girl looked up from the data pad in front of her.  "Oh, you're new.  You're not a medic, are you?  I thought we were past all the poking and prodding business."

The expression on her face was so sincere that Leia almost smiled.  Almost.  She caught herself at the last moment.  "No, I'm not a medic.  I'm Leia Organa."

"Oh, Wedgie's told me about you."  Aria smiled and sat up, tossing the data pad onto her pillow.  "He says you've got more guts than the entire fleet combined and more brains than the entire Imperial Archives.  I think he meant it as a compliment.  Have a seat."  She gestured to the lone chair, pulling her own legs up until they were crossed before her.  "What can I do for you?"

Leia hesitated a moment, then decided to accept the offer.  "I was wondering how you were getting along."

"You want the happy, sun-shiny version or the sob story?"

"I beg your pardon?"

The girl gave a sad smile.  "The happy, sun-shiny version is that I'm doing okay, for the most part.  I've almost mastered reading this Basic stuff and I'm grateful that I can eat the food.  The droids are cool and although most people here are human I really like seeing the different races.  I feel like a kid at a Trekkie convention."

Leia didn't understand that last part, but something told her the explanation would be a lengthy one.  "And the 'sob story'?"

"I'm scared out of my wits.  I _really_ don't like not having solid ground underneath my feet.  I miss my family, even my brothers which I would have never thought possible.  I hate not being trusted, no matter how logical it is that I'm not.  And to top it all off, I keep making a complete idiot out of myself just because whenever I get around a certain person I suddenly have all the social skills of a toddler."  Aria took a deep breath, tilting her head to one side.  "I think that about covers it.  There are little things, like I'm going to miss the next three 'Harry Potter' books and the last five movies, _and_ until the techs can figure out how to transfer my CDs into those data crystals I can't even listen to my music.  So, all in all, my life sucks."

Leia studied the young woman before her carefully.  She had long ago learned that she needed to see a person face-to-face before she could trust or distrust them.  Somehow, once she met a person, something inside her would help her to get a better measure of the individual.  What her inner self was telling her now was that Aria St. Claire was exactly what she presented herself to be; a lost little girl who was desperately trying to keep hold of her sanity.  The tense coil inside of her that had feared sabotage, or worse, from this girl loosened.  "With all that penned up inside I'm surprised you haven't tried to space yourself yet."

"Oh, I'm not keeping it penned up.  I'm a firm believer in spreading the misery.  I complain a lot, mostly to C3P0.  He likes to complain as well, so together we have nice, long pity parties.  Unfortunately, the cute guy who turns me into a toddler owns him and kinda took him back.  I think he's helping that Solo person with his repairs."

"So you've met Luke, then."

"Yep.  You know him?"

Leia smiled.  "We're friends."  She looked over at the discarded data pad.  "I was told you're working on breaking one of the Imperial codes.  Any luck?"

Aria turned her head and frowned at the pad.  "Not yet.  I thought I was on to something a time or two, but the results come out as gibberish."

"Don't take it badly.  Some of those codes we've been trying to crack for months.  The Empire's cryptographers are the best in the galaxy.  The crime lords could learn a few things from them."  The door chime sounded again, but this time the person outside didn't wait for an invitation.  A young rebel wearing a tech uniform came barreling in, holding a data reader under one arm and a case in the other.  

"Oh, sorry Ma'am.  I didn't know Ari was busy."  He started to back out of the room but Leia stopped him.

"It's all right, Ensign.  Come in." 

The tech smiled and walked over to the table, setting the data player down onto it.  "We finally got them.  Well, actually we got them yesterday, but the pilots took the set we were going to give you."

"Got what?"  Ari stood up and strained on her tip-toes in an effort to look over the tech's shoulder as he was considerably taller than she was. 

"Those music files of yours.  We finally figured out how to read them and recorded them over onto data crystals."

"You did?  Sweet!"  She came around the tech and looked expectantly at the case.

"We were able to condense the number down."  Leia watched with interest as the tech opened the case.  Six rows of sparkling data crystals were nestled in black cushioning, each row containing about four with a small label to the right of each crystal.  "We took whatever discs were in a single page of those carrying folders, which would be a total of eight, and fit them onto one crystal.  We've copied over what we think were the titles of each disc onto the labels to the side so you can see what's on the crystal."

"And this thing?"  Ari pointed to the player.

"Standard data player.  It's actually used to play holovids, but it can do straight audio."  The tech took out a crystal and put it into the player.  There was a brief hum before the sounds of "Why Should I Care" by Avril Lavinge began to play.  Where the holographic projection would normally be there was only softly pulsating lights that changed color gradually and flickered with the beat of the music.  "It's got a full charge in it.  Good practice is to plug it into a power outlet for at least an hour every day to top it off again.  That's what that port is over there below your com unit."  He pointed to the standard wall unit to the left of the door.  

Leia looked over at Aria, who was grinning like a child who had just been given a coveted toy, and smiled.  "Now you've got a bit of home."  She ran the calculations of six times four times eight in her head.  "Quite a bit of home, actually."

Aria shrugged, still smiling.  "I have rather eclectic tastes in music.  There's hard rock, metal, alternative, 80's bands, a bit of 'world' music for when I'm feeling uncharacteristically Celtic, some pop and hip hop and a bit of my one guilty pleasure."

"Which would be?"

"Country and Bluegrass.  I never let _any of the guys at school know about those two.  It's decidedly 'un-cool' to like country, but the other stuff is just fluff compared to it.  Country music talks about life and often times tells a story.  All that other stuff is just fun to listen to."_

The tech grinned, rocking back onto his heels.  "Is the 'country' music the stuff where they're singing about farming and having families?"  Ari nodded as she examined the crystals.  "That's our favorite while we're working.  The pilots have been listening to the harsher stuff while they're reviewing their drills."

Aria looked up.  "The pilots are listening to this when they're supposed to be working?  Wedgie's going to kill me."

"Commander Antilles lets you call him 'Wedgie'?"  The tech was looking at Aria with a new level of awe and respect.

"I don't know about 'let'.  I haven't said it when he's around yet."

Leia bit off a laugh, not wanting to undermine Wedge's authority.

~***~

"Luke, you can't still be angry."

"That was completely uncalled for, Wedge!"  Luke was still refusing to look at the other pilot.  Instead he was concentrating on building a new battle simulation involving a rather large number of TIEs and two Star Destroyers.  "Half the ship's crew was in there by then."

"I couldn't resist.  You two were just so cute, sitting together and making eyes like that."

Luke finally looked up.  "We were not 'making eyes'!  We were just talking, and _you're _the one who decided we should sit with her.  I was going to leave her alone.  I told you, I make her nervous."

"And that couldn't _possibly_ be because she finds you attractive, too."

"I never said I find her attractive!"

Wedge rolled his eyes.  "Oh, please!  She's a young girl with a nice figure, pretty face, great hair and lovely eyes, and like any healthy, young man, you notice."

"I was just talking with her."

"Do you always share your breakfast with girls you're 'just talking' too?  No wonder you're on the scrawny side.  Can't have been that much food to share on that dust ball you grew up on."  Luke shot Wedge what was supposed to be a quelling look, but the other pilot only grinned even more.  "You should trust me on this, Luke.  We Corellians have a way of detecting this sort of thing."

"What sort of thing?"

Both pilots turned and saw that Han had just come into the simulator room.  Luke groaned, not really wanting the other man in on this particular conversation.  It was bound to get worse if he did.

"Luke's attracted to a girl."

"I never said I was attract…"

"Really?"  Han grinned.  "Who's the lucky girl?"

"Our little foundling."

"That Aria girl?  Now I have to meet her, make sure she's good enough for the kid."

"Oh, she's good enough.  From what I can gather she comes from a good family.  Hey, Luke, there's something positive about this; her family's in a whole different galaxy.  No relatives breathing down your neck or to get in the way.  You have a clear shot at her."

"He's got a point there, Luke.  It's much easier to get to know a girl if you don't have to worry about her father coming after you with a blaster rifle.  You should stop by her quarters and ask her to take a walk with you.  Maybe if she's with you she can start getting over her space fright."

"I can't believe we're having this conversation."  Luke stubbornly bent back over his work.  Han and Wedge were not to be deterred.  

"Y'know, Wedge, we could help them out a bit.  We could set up a cozy little dinner for them in one of their quarters.  I've got a couple bottles of this nice wine I picked up on Giterra last year. I've been saving it for a really special occasion."

"That's an idea.  It'd have to be Luke's quarters, though.  The room they gave Aria is more like a closet, really.  Barely enough room for her."

"Good thinking.  We'll just have Luke come round and take her on a walk for about an hour or so and have it all ready for him when they're done.  Tonight?"

"Nah, too soon.  They only just met.  We could wait until we get planet side.  That way Aria won't have to deal with any corridors on the ship, and if the planet has a good sunset it would be even better."

Han nodded with a grin.  "I like that idea.  Two young people holding hands while talking and taking a twilight walk.  That has all the markings of a great romance."  He reached into the simulator and ruffled Luke's hair.  "Don't worry about it, Junior.  Wedge and me will take care of everything.  We'll get your love life straightened out for you."

"But I don't need…" it was no use.  The two Corellians had already walked off, laughing and plotting away.  Luke sighed and fell back onto the seat inside the simulator.  "My life is ruined."  

Maybe there was still time for him to run off and join the Empire.


	5. You've Got Mail

**_Plaything of the Gods:_**

**You've Got Mail**

The Alliance tended to use abandoned smuggler's outposts and old ruins whenever possible.  The planet that soon became their new base fell into the outpost category.  Ari was amazed at how quickly the Rebellion was able to unload the equipment off of the cruisers and set up a new base.  For about two days everything had been a flurry of activity.  She had been helping out with the medical equipment the best she could, which mostly consisted of putting delicate instruments back into their padded cargo cases, but when it came time to go down to the planet she was happy to just settle for the very back seat of a shuttle.  She spent the entire trip with her eyes closed.  

During the long trip here the techs had entertained themselves by converting a usable power supply for Ari's desktop.  They didn't much care for its performance, it was a little slow by their standards, but they did find her games interesting.  With all the demands of setting up the new base they had to put a hold on their plans to try and figure out how to port her software over to their own system.  She, on the other hand, kept out from underfoot by studying manuals she had finally convinced them to give her so she could start understanding their coding language, when she wasn't working on the cryptography project.  When it all got to be too much for her, she indulged in a bit of Quake… in 'god mode' so she could unleash her frustrations through virtual wholesale slaughter.

She avoided Luke like the plague and saw very little of Wedge.  She heard rumors during meals, however.  New recruits were being brought in and Wedge and Luke were busy with training them.  There were whispers of new ships to arrive, built by worlds who backed the Rebellion the best that they could.  Something about the stress of it all, the need to overthrow the current tyranny, appealed to the American in her.  Everyone was so busy throwing up makeshift walls and setting up sensor arrays that she mostly went unnoticed.  She was content to be left alone for the time being, however.  Without anyone making demands on her she could concentrate on her self-imposed studies, all the while with her tunes playing in the background.

Most of the crew had to double up on bunk space, but Ari had lucked out.  She was still classified under 'medical', and with her in the lot they had an odd number.  It was decided that, since she didn't have to keep the same cycles as everyone else, it would be better for her to have the single room.  Another near-closet, of course, but still all to herself.  Most of her things had been unloaded during the move so now she had her own pillow and blankets.  Her books were stacked up in three neat piles in one corner and her model of the _Babylon__ 5 was suspended from the ceiling on a wire cable not much thicker than a human hair.  She went to bed when she wanted to and got up when she wanted to.  It was almost like every day being a Saturday, only no cartoons.  And she was very much enjoying her sleep when someone decided to make His presence known again._

On the little metal table that sat about four feet from her bunk her trusty desktop began to hum a bit louder.  The monitor clicked on and flooded the small room with a faintly greenish glow.  As Ari was turned towards the wall with the blankets nearly covering her entire head, she didn't notice.  She even snorted a bit in her sleep until the most venomous words to ever come out of her PC speakers were heard.  

"YOU'VE GOT MAIL!"

The blankets were thrown off with a squeak as she came up into a crouch, her eyes opened wide.  She stared at the monitor directly across from her with its brightly lit X-windows.  She usually kept it on a globe of Earth, although in a fit of boredom she had done her best to turn it into a representation of their current home.  Her eyes narrowed as she got off the bunk and walked the short distance to her chair.  As she got closer a window opened up and English text appeared.

_Still confused as to what you're supposed to do?_

"Oh… it's You.  Uhm… I dunno.  Can You at least tell me if I'm on the right track?"

_Are you 'playing to your strengths'?_

"I guess so.  I mean, I'm a coder, so I'm learning their code, and the cryptography thing is a lot like coding, only I'm un-writing it rather than writing it."

_Then you're on the right track.  You haven't spoken to Me since the last time._

She bit down on her bottom lip nervously.  "Oh yeah, sorry about that.  I never was good at remembering to say my prayers."

_I remember._

"Yeah, I guess You would."  She pulled her feet up into her chair and rested her chin on her knees.  "You do realize this is a Linux box.  I think it may be blasphemy to use AOHell sound bites on a Linux box."

_But it got your attention._

She couldn't help it.  She grinned.  "Are You going to do this often?  Pop up when I least expect it, I mean."

_Not often, and usually only when you need a bit of direction.  Humans have self-will and are bright enough to make most of their own decisions._

"But we also make bad decisions.  Mom always said that the biggest monsters in history were human.  We have wars, practice slavery and genocide.  We do a lot of bad things.  That's what all these guys are fighting against."

_And why do Men make bad decisions?_

Ari blinked and stared at the screen.  Why _did_ people make bad decisions?  Why _were there monsters?  "I don't know."_

_You're a smart girl.  You'll figure it out._

She scratched at an itchy place on her scalp, a sure sign that it was time to wash her hair.  "So… why are You talking to me now, if I'm on the right track and all?"

_As I said, you haven't spoken to Me in a while._

"Sorry.  I'm not very good at this whole religion thing.  I'm still trying to come to grips that there's a You.  How often am I supposed to… pray, I guess?"

_Once a day would be nice.  It doesn't have to be a big prayer.  You're new, so I'll even accept grace for the time being._

"You mean like over a meal?  I can do that.  I may forget from time to time, though."

_I'm a patient God._

"Thanks."  This was odd.  "So… uhm.. is there anything else?"

_Just one more thing.  That cryptography project of yours._

"What about it?"

_You had the right idea three steps back.  Try looking at it from a different perspective._

"Wha…?"  The screen suddenly went black and the hard drive started to slow down.  Ari blinked; the sudden loss of light a shock to her eyes.  She had just started to rub at them when there was a knock at her door.  She frowned and sought out the clock, finding it partially hidden beneath her blankets.  It was, technically speaking, the middle of the night.  Grumbling under her breath she walked over to the door and opened it.

Luke's hand froze in mid-air where he had been about ready to knock again.  He looked at Aria, and then tried to peer over her shoulder into the dark room.  "What were you doing in there?"

Ari blinked.  "You come knocking on my door in the middle of the night and want to know what I'm doing?  That's rather rude."

Luke had the decency to look abashed.  "Sorry, it's just… I sensed something."

Huh?  "You 'sensed' something?"

"A surge in the Force."  Luke looked as puzzled as Ari felt.  "Are you a Jedi?"

"A what-I?"

"A Jedi.  Someone who uses the Force."  It must have been obvious from the look on Ari's face that she had no idea what he was talking about.  "What were you doing in here, just now, before I came?"

He could sense _that_?  "Oh, I was… "She looked over her shoulder at the now dark computer monitor.  "I was praying."  She turned back to him.

"Praying?"

"Yeah, praying.  You know, talking to a Higher Being."

Luke looked a bit skeptical, but didn't seem to challenge her.  "Were you alone in here?"

"That's rather personal, don't you think?"

"I didn't mean it like that."

Ari pondered the question a moment longer.  "Well, I guess I wasn't.  I was always told that when you pray, God comes down to listen.  I guess you could say He was in here with me."  There was an expression of unease in Luke's eyes, as though the thought of a Deity personally visiting someone praying to them was a bit frightening.  "If it makes you feel any better, I'm a bit new to this too.  I didn't even believe in all this God stuff until… well… let's just say I've had reason to re-think my stand on religion."

Luke seemed about ready to make a comment, but thought better of it.  "I… I'm sorry to have disturbed you.  I'll let you get back to… to your praying."

Ari nodded.  "Okay.  G'night."  She managed an uncomfortable smile before closing the door.  The expression on Luke's face was curious, but he didn't look as though he wanted to press matters too much.  Once the latch was secured she turned around to face the still dark screen.  "Well _that was weirder than snake shoes."  _

Now, however, she was wide awake.  "Lights."  The soft glow of the overheads filled the room as she grabbed up the data pad and turned it on.  She had the right idea three steps back?  Calling up the history, she went back to the attempt she had made the day before yesterday and watched as the characters swapped themselves for others corresponding to the number she had assigned each.  When attempts with multiple character pairings had failed to yield any results, she had started playing with straight character for character swaps.  So far everything was still gibberish.  She stared at the jumble of letters for what seemed like an eternity, trying to figure out just what was meant by a 'different perspective'.  Eventually she started feeling drowsy again and opted to drop the data pad by her bunk and order the lights to switch back off.  She'd deal with it in the morning.

~***~

"A Force presence.  You're sure about that?"

"I'd bet anything on it, Leia.  There was something in that room with her, something powerful."

"Was it dangerous?"

Luke frowned.  "I didn't sense any malice.  Anything that powerful could be dangerous if it wanted to be, but I don't think it was threatening us in any way."

"What did she say when you confronted her about it?"

"She said she was praying."  The deck officer jogged up to Luke and handed him a data pad with the latest stats on the new pilots.  Luke thanked him and skimmed over the numbers after the man had left.

"Do you think she might be some sort of Jedi?  A different kind of Jedi?"

"I thought so at first, but after talking to her, I really don't believe she could be.  She isn't unconsciously channeling the Force.  Whatever was in there with her was… old… very old and very powerful."

Leia shivered.  "I'm not sure I like the sound of this.  How do we know that she wont' ask… it… to turn against us?"

Luke considered this, and then shook his head.  "Whatever it was, I don't believe she's in charge of it.  I think it's in charge of her."

"And that's supposed to be better?"

~***~

One good thing about waking up later than everyone else is that the line for the 'fresher was way shorter.  Ari wasn't rushed like the others were, nor was she as likely to have to share the open sonic-showers.  The device got you clean, but she would dearly love a long soak in a hot bubble bath again.  Once she was cleaned and dressed, she gathered up her laundry and returned to her quarters.  The tiny room looked even smaller until her bed was made, and as she moved the thick comforter she uncovered the forgotten data pad.  It took a moment for her to remember how it got there and why it was still turned on.  It took a moment longer for her to realize what she was seeing.

From where she was standing she was looking down at the rows of characters from sort of a diagonal position.  With one toe she reached out and edged the data pad around until it was lined up horizontally with her body.  She felt her jaw drop a bit as it all suddenly clicked into place.  With a whoop she tossed the blankets haphazardly onto the bed, scooped up the data pad and ran out of her quarters.

She was barreling own the corridors, dodging crates and people just out trying to do their jobs.  It wasn't until she heard someone call out her name that she skidded to a halt.

"Miss Aria!  Where _are you going?"_

Oh, right.  She didn't exactly know where she was supposed to be going.  "3P0, where did they put cryptography?"

"Cryptography?  Why, it's down the third corridor to your left, fifth door."

"Thanks."  She gave the droid a quick peck on the cheek and took off running again.

Once she got to the third corridor on the left she ran into one of the techs from the cruiser, quite literally.  They both fell back from the impact, landing on the floor.  "Oh, sorry."

"That's okay.  I wasn't carrying anything fragile."  He got up, Ari thought his name was Ensign Chet, but she couldn't be sure.  "I have something to tell you anyway, if you promise not to hit me."

Ari scrambled to her feet and dusted herself off.  "Why would I hit you?"

"Because we finished converting your speeder.  You can try her out after we got off our shift if you like."

It took a moment for Ari to decipher that sentence.  "Oh.  I forgot about that.  I'll get back to you on that one.  I've got to do something right now."

The tech grinned, apparently relieved that she was taking this so well given her previous rants.  "Sure thing.  We're just down there, third door, but the speeders in the hanger where the land vehicles are kept.  Meet us there after shift?"

"Sure, I'll be there."  She started to take off again, but stopped.  Before the tech could carry on his own way she turned and punched him hard in the arm, eliciting a yelp from him.  "I can't believe you did that to my baby."  Without giving him a chance to respond, she ran off again until she reached the fifth door.

Cryptography was usually a quiet place.  Most of the time the people working there were too busy crouched over their work, trying to break codes so that they could figure out what the enemy was up to.  Today was no exception until Ari burst into the room.  It didn't take a lot of noise to bring everyone's head up.  She looked around for the officer in charge and grinned when she found him.  He, however, was glaring at her.

"Will you keep it down?  It's bad enough they put us so close to those techs and their music."

Ari ignored the admonishment.  "You know that code you gave me to play with?"

"Oh, that pain in the arse.  What about it?"  Ari handed him the data pad right side up.  He looked at it and arched a brow.  "Is this supposed to mean something?"  She rolled her eyes and turned the data pad sideways.  The officer looked at it, still confused, until she reached around and started to run her finger in a diagonal direction from the bottom right hand corner to the top left.  Comprehension dawned on his face.

"We were over-thinking it.  It's a straight character-for-character swap.  It's the alignment of the characters that makes up the main bulk of the code.  This is a standard size data pad but the characters are set about eight percent smaller.  I put them that way so I could see more of them at once.  Just a tiny bit off, and the lines wrap so that the characters won't match up properly, even if you get the right sequence.  It's simple!  They know you'd be used to complex codes by now, so that's what you'd be looking for."

The officer grinned.  "Let's test it out, shall we?"  He walked over to a computer screen and pulled up a message written in the same code.  Everyone in the room had gone very quiet again, only this time they were all watching what was going on between Ari and their commander.  "We intercepted this about six months ago.  We'll just set the screen size to a standard data pad width and decrease the character size.  You remember the offset?"  He stepped aside so that Ari could punch in the sequence key, about six lines of data.  She entered the short code and the characters swapped out with their counterparts.  

She stepped aside as the officer bent over to enter a few commands.  The screen rotated until it was on its side, then the characters were ordered to flip over so that they'd be easier to read.  The man's deep voice read out, "Move your forces to the third planet in the Enteri system.  You are to cut off the food supply chain to the Alliance and destroy the farming communities there."

"That's exactly what happened."  A young ensign stood up from behind his work station and craned his neck to see.

"Yes, it is."  The officer nodded grimly at the screen, then at Ari.  "Congratulations.  You broke it.  The Empire switches its codes out, each one only lasting about a year.  This one has been in use for nearly eight standard months.  We can get a good three to four out of it until they swap it for something new."  He gave her a lopsided smile.  "I'll be sure to let the higher ups know about this."

"Glad to help."  Now that she had delivered her news, she felt a bit awkward.  What did she do now?  "Uhm… you got any more?  That was kind of fun."

The lopsided grin broke into a full fledged smile.  "I think we can dig something up."

"I got one, Chief!"  A squat little alien with a balding head and too wide eyes tossed a data pad towards Ari.  Luckily, she caught it.  "Try sinking your teeth into that one.  Fresh off the 'net.  First appeared about three weeks ago."

Ari looked down at the jumble of characters on the screen.  "Thanks.  I'll get started on it."  She turned and was walking towards the door when the officer called out.  

"St. Claire!  Have they figured out what to do with you yet?"

She turned around and shrugged.  "No, I'm still just pretty much floating around, mooching all your food."  The crack got a round of appreciative chuckles from the team.  The officer just nodded, something speculative gleaming in his eyes.

She turned back around and walked out the door, shutting it behind her.  With a smile and a much lighter feeling to her step she started to move back towards her quarters.  After three steps she halted, paused, and then looked up at the ceiling above her.

"Thanks for the tip."

~***~

"Now You're cheating."

"How is it cheating?"

"You helped her."

"She already had the answer; I just made her take a closer look at what she'd already done."

Lucifer gave a snort.  "You're sending up warning bells, in case You haven't noticed.  Too many more of those little chats of Yours and Your golden boy is likely to throw her out an air lock the first chance he gets."

God smiled as he sculpted wings for a new species of bird.  "You know that he would not."

"He would if his sister asks it of him."

"And she would not.  The twins are both equally blessed.  Leia is just as able to weigh the mettle of a person's heart as Luke.  Aria is perfectly safe among them."

The Morning Star glared at the hands of God as they brought life to the bird.  He placed it on a newer planet, one bright and blue-green with lush vegetation and oceans.  No doubt he'd put Men there as well, spoiled little brats that they were.  

His mind turned again to the game unfolding before him.  Aria had yet to do anything that would bring her to the attention of his own servants.  Well, there was the little matter of her arrival, but that would not cause much concern in Palpatine or Vadar.  The most they would do would be to tell their spy within the Alliance to keep a close eye on her, but until she did something noteworthy, she was likely to slip under their radar.

He would merely have to be patient… for now.


	6. The Setup

**_Plaything of the Gods:_**

**_The Setup_**

She had scarcely believed it when Wedge had caught up with her and told her what had happened.  Major Gil Hatur, head of Cryptography, had put in a request to the higher ups that she be assigned to his team.  Gil, called 'Chief' by most of his people when in the solitude of their little room, had made a good argument for Aria being… well… drafted.  Now she actually had a place in the Alliance, something she hadn't even realized she wanted until it was given to her.  

The new job eventually came with uniforms, but she was working nearly a Galactic standard month before the supply lines were running well enough that she got them.  Three sets of regular uniforms with boots and one dress uniform in case there was the odd award ceremony or fancy to-do.  She had never thought to be part of a military body, too stuffy and rigid for her tastes, and to be truthful she wasn't entirely comfortable about some of the codes.  For one, she had to take the time to braid up her hair every day because it could not be past the bottom edge of her collar.  Also, she actually had to get up at the same time as everyone else in her cycle, which did away with her private fresher time and long naps. 

Still, if she had to be part of a team, Cryptography turned out to be the one for her.  Once they were out from underneath the watchful eyes of those in charge, the unit as a whole was much easier to get along with.  While working they were quiet and serious, bent on their tasks, but Chief believed in frequent breaks to give the eyes and the mind a chance to rest.  His reasoning was that sometimes if you put a thing down and come back to it later you're looking at it from a whole new approach.  This was an idea that Ari found very much to her liking.  She also was quick to learn that Cryptography was considered 'spooky' by most of the other branches.  They were considered to be as brainy as the techs, but as secretive as the spies.  Though Chief and the others complained about how noisy the techs were, they got on quite well with them.  While the pilots and mechanics let loose in Downtime, the techs and crypts got together to play strategy games and joke about how they would run the galaxy.  

Most of the works done by the crypts was single person jobs.  You either wracked your brains to decipher an encoded message or you made up codes for the Alliance.  Two or three people may be working on the same decryption, but rarely was it something that you could do as a team.  It was also the type of work that you could become completely lost in and shut out the rest of the world, until your direct superior starting rapping the top of your head with a spare data pad.

"Ouch!  Chief!  Cut that out!"

"Shift ended nearly thirty minutes ago, St. Claire.  Get your arse to the kitchens and get something to eat before you waste away to nothing."

She looked at the clock and blinked.  "Where does the day go?"  With a yawn she put down the data pad and stretched.  Her eyes fell onto a pair of heads on the other side of the room.  "Why aren't you chasing them out?"

Gil glanced behind him.  "They've got a bit of an urgent assignment.  We try to keep at least three different codes going, each one swapped out for a new one every eight to ten months.  Trouble is, we have reason to believe that the Imps have cracked two of our codes in the past month and we don't have two to replace them with."

Ari gave a low whistle.  "That would be a Bad Thing.  I can help if you want."

Gil gave her an appraising look, then shook his head.  "Thanks for the offer, but I need that brain of yours in decryption, and it's not going to work properly if you don't feed it."  He used his hand to knock her feet off of where she had them propped, forcing her to come to an upright, seated position with a *thunk*.  "Get going, Private."

Ari got to her feet.  "I don't like being a private.  Can't I be something bigger?"

"You're a new recruit with no military experience.  You have to earn your way up the chain."

"Luke Skywalker hasn't been here much longer than I have and he's a commander."

Gil grinned.  "And when you blow up a battle station the size of a small moon, you can be a commander as well."  He reached out, grabbed her shoulder and turned her around before giving her a firm push between her shoulder blades.  "Out."

"I'm going."  She reached out and grabbed the data pad before she left, intending to work on it in her down time.  Walking out of the room she headed down the corridor, only half paying attention to where she was going.  

"Ari?  Hey!  Wait up!"

She turned around to see what was becoming a rather familiar face moving towards her.  She had met Han Solo shortly after their arrival here.  She had also met his very hairy co-pilot.  There was just something about the pair that made you either like them or want to kill them on sight.  Fortunately, she liked them.  Han reminded her a lot of an upper classman at the university, all boyish charm and sharp wit.  From what she could tell he wasn't actually part of the Alliance, but a smuggler who had managed to hook up with Luke and Leia and then decided to hang around to take any jobs that the Rebellion may be willing to hire him to do.  

"Where are you headed?"

"Dinner.  Chief's orders.  He thinks I forget too many meals."

Han gave her an appraising look, after which he frowned.  "I think he may be right.  That uniform is starting to get a bit baggy on you."  

She hit him with the data pad.  "It is not.  What brings you to this part of the base?  You're a long way from the hangars."

"Just talking to some of the techs about having a look at the Falcon's navcomputer.  It's been a little woogie."

"Woogie?  Your grasp of technical terms never ceases to amaze me, Captain Solo."

"Watch it, sister."  He gave her a light elbow to the ribs.  "Speaking of pilots…"

"We were?"

"I'm a pilot.  And speaking of pilots, have you spoken to Luke lately?"

Aria felt her skin heat up with a blush.  Darn it!  She had to find a way to stop from doing that.  "Crypts and pilots don't usually intermingle."

"Not usually, no, but there's no rule that say's you can't."

"Fraternization.  He's an officer and I'm a lowly little private.  It would look bad."  Why did he have to bring up this subject each and every time?  Luke this and Luke that.  What was he, Skywalker's press agent?

Han waved off the gap in their ranks with one hand.  "Details.  You're both about the same age, both far from home and all alone, no one's going to think twice about it if you're friends."

"And here I thought Commander Antilles and yourself were aiming for something a little more than friends.  Are you sure you don't want to check my teeth, make sure I'm healthy?  Shall I have the medics check out my reproductive system and make sure it's in working order?"

Han held up his hands in a defensive gesture.  "Easy now, Wedge and me are just concerned about the two of you.  You're like family to us.  It can get lonely being so far from home, and a little companionship can do a lot to ease the pain.  No one said it had to be physical."

"Oh, I'm deeply sorry, Captain Solo.  Please accept my apologies for besmirching your good name."  She gave a deep bow in his direction, her eyes down cast.  Han gave a bark of laughter.

"If I had a good name, I'd be worried.  You're not really going to eat that swill they serve in the chow line are you?  Chewie and I have better stuff on the Falcon and it's been too long since we've had a pretty lady to share it with."  He offered her his arm, which she accepted happily.

"You know, if you'd stop ribbing her so often, you might be able to land more regal company."

Han led her through the base towards the hangars.  "Nah, that wouldn't work.  Besides, if I started being nice to her now she'd think I'd caught something deadly."

Ari laughed.  Although it was generally discouraged, the juiciest gossip on the base was what was or wasn't happening between Princess Leia and Han Solo.  Most scoffed at the idea of a princess and a smuggler, but other's thought it was romantic.  Aria believed the old adage that opposites attract, and you couldn't get much more opposite of one another that Han and Leia.  Deep down, she was rooting for the smuggler.  He had just enough 'bad boy' in him to make him dangerous, but he couldn't hide the goodness inside.  He talked a mean talk, but in truth Han Solo was born to be a hero, whether he wanted to be one or not.

The Falcon wasn't much to look at, but Aria thought she was brilliant.  The ship reminded her of an old farm truck, beat up and battered but still able to out pull and out haul any of the newer models brought in and with perhaps a few modifications under the hood.  The comparison came easy to her, considering the old Chevy the boys were always fooling around with.  Good thing they never took it off the back roads.  She doubted it was street legal.  As for the Falcon, she had the same well-loved look about her, like she was held together with wishes and duct tape.

The ramp was down, allowing them entrance.  She had been on the ship before when she had been looking for C3P0 to ask him a question and new perfectly well where the central room that served as galley and recreation was located.  Because of this she paid very little attention to her surroundings as she chatted with the captain and was only brought crashing back to the present when he looked from her and grinned.

"Luke!  You made it."  Han led Aria over to where Luke was standing up from a chair.  The other victim gave her a commiserating look before smiling at his friend.

"Han, what are you up do?"

"Me?"  Solo gave his most innocent expression.  "What makes you think I'm up to anything?  I just managed to get a great deal on some Corellian delicacies and thought I'd share them with two very special people.

"So where's Leia?"

"Leia?  I planned on relaxing tonight.  Can't do that with Her Worship hanging about telling me how I could be improving myself."  Han's innocent face twisted into a mischievous wink as he escorted Ari to a chair at a table already set for dinner.  It didn't surprise her that it was set up for two, and surprised her even less when a comlink on Han's belt chimed.  "Excuse me.  Han here."

As Wedge's voice came over the tiny speaker, Ari and Luke exchanged a look.  "Captain Solo, could you come down to the briefing room.  We've got an assignment we'd like to offer you."

"Sure, I'll be right there."  He turned off the link and smiled at his 'guests'.  Sorry about that, but if I don't move now the higher ups will give it to someone else.  I won't be long.  You two go ahead and get started."  He turned and started walking away.  "And keep your feet on the floor, you two."

The sound of the ramp sliding closed could be heard as the two sat in silence.  "Do you think he locked it?"

"I wouldn't put it past him."  Luke plopped himself down in the chair across from her own, an amused grin on his face.  "We should have seen this coming."

"We should have.  Captain Solo hasn't missed a single opportunity to point out how brave and incredible you are."

"Oh, that had to be boring.  Me, I got trailed by Wedge, going on about how brilliant you are and how it's a shame you're here all alone with not even someone from your own planet to keep you company.  He makes you sound like something cute and furry that followed us home."

Aria couldn't help but giggle.  "I think I should be offended, but it also sounds like I got the better of the two."

"Yeah, actually it does."  Luke looked over the rather impressive spread before them.  "I think most of this stuff is contraband.  It would serve Han right if we didn't leave him any."  He picked up his plate and began filling it up with various items before passing it over the table to her with a gentle smile.  Ari accept the food with a 'thank you' and gave him her empty plate for herself.  "Leia told me that they've put you in cryptography."

"Yep, that's me.  Private St. Claire."  She gave a little salute.  "Of course, I think I'd make a much better colonel.  I wouldn't want to be a general, though.  Too much responsibility."

"I agree.  Keep your head down and don't do anything 'distinguished' or you'll be the next one they wrestle the floor and pin a command rank on."  It took her a moment to remember the conversation they had in the galley more than a month before, but once she recalled it she joined in on his laughter.  

"Did it hurt?  Being wrestled to the decking and promoted, I mean."

"It was agony.  An admiral sat on me so I couldn't get away."  He poured them both a glass of an amber liquid.  "Be careful with this stuff.  It's whisky, and they know how to make it strong on Corellia.  It comes from being a society that doesn't care about odds and believes in living life to the fullest.  They throw themselves into everything."

"Sounds like New Orleans at Mardi Gras."  She tried a sip of the whiskey.  It burned down her throat in a slightly unpleasant way, but the woody taste of it wasn't too bad.

"Tell me about where you come from.  We all know that you somehow got thrown into this from another galaxy, but none of us know much past that."

"Oh."  He had a point.  She hadn't really ever talked about home.  "Well, we call our planet Earth, or Terra, either will work.  There's about… six billion people I think, in various countries, each with their own culture and most with their own language.  We don't get along all the time, though.  We're always arguing over something, usually something very stupid.  We fight over differences in religion or skin color, among other things."

"That sounds about normal for most humans, although here the Empire unites the different worlds using the threat of an 'alien menace'.  They spread lies and propaganda about the non-human races.  Others they just enslave, like the Wookies.  Han told me once that Chewbacca and he got together because Han rescued him from a slave ship.  They've been inseparable ever since."

Ari considered this for a moment.  "That sounds par for the course on my world as well, only we see things in a more narrow scope.  There are no non-human sentients, so they focus on other differences.  Skin color is a major one, but so is religion.  About… sixty or seventy years ago there was this short, angry little madman named Adolf Hitler.  He managed to use a period of crisis in a country called Germany to rise in power until he was leading the show.  He convinced his nation that their race, the Aryans, was the supreme race and that the Jews, who are both a religion and a race, were the primary cause of all their problems.  They segregated the Jewish people, sent them to camps were they were starved, overworked, beaten, abused, poisoned, gassed, experimented on and all manner of evil things.  By the time the Nazis, that's what Hitler and his followers called themselves, were brought down, over six million men, women and children were killed."

Luke stared at her a moment, then shivered.  "That sounds so much like the Imps, it's scary."

"Well, apparently evil doesn't have that great of an imagination, no matter what galaxy its in."

"Are you from this Germany?"

"Me?"  Ari chased down a bit of some sort of sweet side dish with a bit of water, not fully trusting her ability to handle the whisky.  "No, I'm an American.  We're sort of a… hodge podge of people.  A few centuries ago we started out as a series of colonies, mainly English.  England's this very old and very well respected country, but it's an island and a rather small island at that.  For the longest time they maintained themselves by having colonies in different parts of the world.  Well, in England, back then, everything was set in a land owner based system.  Nobles of varying degrees of rank and importance held sway over the renters and tenants of their lands, but these guys, who were the land owners, answered the king of England.

"In the colonies, or our colony anyway, it wasn't a system of lords and ladies.  Prosperous farmers and merchants could own their own lands and if you tried hard enough you could make yourself into just about anything.  There was also an entire ocean between us and England.  Well, all that distance and freedom was pretty intoxicating, so when England started passing new laws and new taxes, mainly to pay for a war they were in with another country, France, the colonists threw a major tantrum involving the use of guns and knives.  To tell the truth, if you look back over history, I don't think England really put up much of an effort to keep us.  We were, what, a quarter of the world away?  France was just across a channel and a much more prominent threat.  Eventually, the king agreed to let us go and after a bit of stumbling and struggling, a new nation was born."

"Is that why you don't have any trouble staying with the Alliance?"

Ari grinned. "Yep, as an American, born and bred, I have a natural predisposition towards rebellious types.  And actually, the US, short for United States which is what we're called now, hasn't done too badly for herself.  We've gone from being a group of upstarts to the most powerful nation on Earth.  It comes with drawbacks, though."

"Such as?"

"Everyone hates you and you can't please anyone.  For example, if a small country finds itself under the power of a cruel dictator or being invaded by a neighbor, what do you do?  If we don't do anything, then all the other nations jump down our throats and say we're not standing up to the responsibility inherent with being the most powerful nation.  If we try to step in, send our own troops to this foreign country to die  thousands of miles from home to overthrow said dictator or push back the invading army, then the other nations jump down our throats and say we're being bullies and trying to run the entire world.  It's a lose: lose situation."

"So what do you do in a situation like that?"

"Eventually we almost always end up going in and say 'to Hell with the rest of you'.  We can weather most anything they throw at us.  Let's face it, what are they going to do to us?  Not to sound boastful, but we send tons of food and medical supplies to countries all over the world to combat famine and disease, often at the cost of our own bank accounts.  A natural disaster strikes such as an earthquake or tidal wave, we send in relief forces to rebuild destroyed villages and help the people get back on their feet.  We're not perfect, and I personally believe that we've put some real boneheads into power in the recent decades, but we're still on top so we must be doing _something_ right."

"You sound proud of your people."

"I suppose I am.  I've always been a bit of a patriot.  It runs in the family."

"What are they like, your family, I mean."

A tightness settled into Ari's chest as she thought about it, but she smiled.  "Big.  Loud.  A bit much for the average person to take.  There's a lot of us because… well… because we're mostly farmers.  You have large numbers of children so you have plenty of cheap labor.  The St. Claires immigrated to the US about six generations ago, just Henri St. Claire and his wife, Marie.  They had… I believe it was six sons, four of whom survived.  Back then there wasn't a lot known about proper pre-natal care and nutrition, so the infant mortality rate could be a bit high at times.  Those sons grew up and married and all had multiple sons of their own.  And so on, and so on.  For six generations all this family had were boys, lots and lots of boys.  Mom and Dad actually thought Mom was going through 'the change' when she got pregnant with me, at first anyway.  Then on the day I was born the nurse comes out and tells my father that I'm a girl."  Ari grinned.  "Grandpa Huey said Dad looked right at her and told her that she had the wrong person."

Luke laughed, almost choking on a bite of food.  "A bit of a surprise, were you?"

"A massive surprise.  Those people didn't know what to do with a girl!  When you have a family that large you reuse a lot of things.  The same nursery furniture had gone through about twelve kids and since children grow up so fast you wear a lot of things that were worn by your siblings or cousins a year or two before.  But all the other kids were boys, so most of what I got as I was growing up had to be new.  And they really weren't sure how much abuse I could take.  My father was terrified that I'd break or something, which was absolutely ridiculous since my brothers and cousins spent their free time tormenting me.

"You laugh, but they really did.  History has never been my best subject, which in hind sight is not a wise thing.  My brother Bobby, however, _loves_ history.  It's an obsession with him.  When I was about six or seven he was going ga-ga over the old witch trials and used it to come up with a new game.  See, way back in the past they would take a woman or man suspected of being a witch and tie them in a chair fastened to a log, then they'd dunk them under water in a pond or river.  If you lived, you were a witch; if you died, you were innocent."

"That's insane!"

"Oh, believe me, about the third time they dunked me under I was in total agreement that they were all insane."  Luke was now laughing almost hard enough to bring tears to his eyes.  "They got into real trouble for that one.  Dad had them mucking out the dairy barns without any motorized equipment for a month.  Elbow deep in bovine feces while I was inside the house munching on fresh baked cookies.  However, sometimes I look back and it's a miracle all those boys didn't accidentally kill me while I was growing up."

"It sounds like they certainly tried."

"Yeah, it does, doesn't it."  She waited until he had caught his breath.  "What about you?  Where do you come from?"

Luke's expression turned sad.  "A little dust ball called Tattoine.  It's primarily desert and not really friendly to life forms.  I never knew my parents, they died when I was just a baby, so I was raised by my father's step-brother and his wife.  Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru never had any children of their own, I don't think they could.  I was all they had and they were all I had."

"What happened to them?"

"We needed some new droids and bought C3P0 and Artoo off a band of Jawas, they a type of nomadic tribe on the planet, scavengers and dealers.  I was cleaning them up with I found out that their previous owner had been part of the rebellion.  Artoo had this message from Leia stored in him for Ben Kenobi, only she addressed him as Obi-Wan Kenobi.  He, Artoo, ran off while I was having dinner and 3P0 and I went after him.  We met up with Ben and I found out that a good portion of my life had been a lie."

"How so?"

Luke poured them both more water.  "Uncle Owen had told me that my father had been a navigator on a spice freighter, that's a sort of drug that they mine on Kessel.  I'd always been told that he'd died in space in an accident.  Ben, however, told me the truth, that my father had been a Jedi Knight, a protector of the Old Republic, who was betrayed and murdered by Darth Vadar, a former Jedi who had turned to evil and pledged his allegiance to the Emperor.  Ben said that Owen was afraid that if I knew the truth I would run off with Ben on some sort of quest.  Ben was a Jedi as well.  He took me with him and started my training after… after Owen and Beru were killed.

"It turned out that Artoo was also holding the technical plans of the Death Star, this big orbital battle station.  The Imps were looking for the droids and they traced them back to the farm.  By the time I got there it was too late.  My aunt and uncle were both dead.  After that, there was no reason for me to stay."

"The Death Star is what the Empire used to blow up Alderan.  Wedge mentioned it to me when I first arrived, and I've heard people from there talk about it sometimes."

"Leia was from there as well.  She was a prisoner on the Death Star when they attacked, they made her watch it as it happened."

"But you won in the end.  You got Artoo to the right people and found out how to destroy the battle station."  Luke's eyes darkened.  "What?"

"They all think I'm a great person for blowing up that station, but I'm not all that sure.  I mean, I know that if I hadn't the rebellion would have been destroyed and other worlds would have been blown up like Alderan, but I never told anyone the rest of it.  There had to be close to one million men on that station, one million men who all died in an instant because of a single shot that I fired.  I… I felt them as they died.  Everyone was so thrilled that we had won I just couldn't tell them that part of it."

He looked down at his plate, his shoulders slumping a bit.  Ari studied him for a moment before reaching out with one hand and wrapping her fingers around his.  "It shouldn't bother you that you mourn the death of one million enemy soldiers.  How many of them volunteered and how many had no other choice?  How many of them signed up because otherwise they or their families would starve and how many of them signed up because they've been brainwashed by the Empire's propaganda?  It should only bother you when you get to a point that you don't feel regret for lives you've been forced to take.  When you reach that point, you've stopped being the good guy and started being no better than your enemy."

Luke's hand turned over and squeezed her own as he looked up at her. "Thanks.  Believe it or not, I feel a bit… better… getting that off my chest."

She was about to say something when they heard the ramp open from down the hallway.  Solid footsteps and a massive shadow approached them until Chewbacca came into view.  They released their hold on one another quickly.  Once the Wookie spotted them he sent a series of growls Luke's way.  "It was Han's doing," responded the pilot.  He turned and grinned at Ari.  "He wanted to know why the Falcon was locked up if we're in here."

Chewie gave an odd sounded laughter as he looked at the pair of them. He said something else that had Luke rolling his eyes.  "Don't you start in on us, too.  It's bad enough we have to put up with Han and Wedge."  He stood up and grinned at Ari.  "Come on, let's get out of here while we still can."

Ari took a final gulp of water as she stood up.  "See you later, Chewie."  She followed Luke, but they were stopped by Chewbacca's voice.  When Luke turned around the Wookie tossed something at him, which he caught.  It was an elegantly shaped bottle of green glass.  

"Thanks, Chewie."  He nodded his head to indicate that Aria should follow him.  They made their way through the now dimly lit hangar, weaving their way amidst the silent fighters until they reached one of the X-Wings.  "Stay here."  Luke handed her the bottle and clambered up to get inside what looked like a storage compartment.  He rummaged around inside for a moment before coming back down.  "Cups.  We'll need them.  Come on, I'll show you the place I found after we landed."

He took her through a part of the base that held the speeders.  "We'll need to take one."

"We can take mine."

"You've got a speeder?"  He sounded surprised.

"I have what used to be a very Earth-type car that your techs revamped into a speeder.  It's the funny-shaped red one over there."

Luke looked over at the indicated corner and gave a low whistle.  "That's different."  He walked over towards it, Ari close behind.  "Is this a common thing to have on your world?"

"Depends on if you mean is it common to have a car or is it common to have a Firebird.  There are lots of different kinds of cars, but they stopped making this model a year or two ago.  She used to belong to my brother Danny until his wife became pregnant and he had to get something more geared towards family.  I almost didn't get her because the price he wanted was going to take too much out of my college fund, but then I landed enough in scholarship money to make it possible."

Luke ran his hand over the hood.  "I like the design, sharp and knife-like.  She should be well adapted to ground transportation."

Ari grinned.  "I know, ain't she gorgeous.  I was really impressed by how well the techs did on her.  I can't even tell where the wheels were.  The metal they patched in is almost seamless, but I don't know if they painted the entire body or if they just painted what they added."

"Is it all right if we take her?"

"Sure, but you better drive.  I haven't gotten the hang of the whole speeder thing yet and I really haven't had time to practice."

He smiled and opened the driver side door to get in.  Ari ran over to the passenger side just as he reached across, fumbled for the handle a moment, and then opened it for her.  She put the bottle and the cups in the back floorboard as Luke studied the controls.  Most of the internal panel had been changed to go with the new drive system.  Once he was sure he knew which button did what, he started up the engine and eased them out of the hangar. 

There were crude roads leading from the base, roughly hewn trails made by the previous occupants.  The vegetation was already starting to encroach upon them to reclaim the land, but there was still enough room for a single speeder to make it through.  Ari showed Luke how to turn on the headlights so he could see a little better in the deepening twilight before sitting back in her seat and watching the scenery.  The trees were oddly shaped and thickly leaved. Many of them had flowers interspersed amongst the foliage and in the warm humidity of the planet they gave off a cloying fragrance that was vaguely reminiscent of honey suckle.

Luke stopped the speeder at a cliff side and turned off the lights and engine.  "This is it.  The ground is soft, so we should be relatively comfortable."  He reached behind the seat and reclaimed the bottle and cups before getting out of the car and moving to the front of it.  Ari did the same and joined him in a seat on the cliff edge, their legs dangling over the side.

"What did you want me to see?"

"Wait a while.  It's not quite dark enough yet."

They opened the bottle and found that it was a light wine which they poured into the cups and shared in silence.  As the last rays of sunlight faded the stars became their only source of light.  Luke kept looking skyward, so Ari followed his gaze.  She gasped.  "Whoa."

"Beautiful, isn't it."

She had heard someone mention the asteroid belt that surrounded the planet and had always pictured it to look something like Saturn in her mind.  The base had bright lights on the exterior walls that blotted out the night sky, much like living in a city.  Here, away from the base and its lights she could see that some of the asteroids managed to break into the atmosphere to die a brilliant death.  Shooting stars rained overhead, too numerous to count. "It's gorgeous."

"I came out here to avoid Down Time.  I didn't want to put up with another round of requests that I tell the story of how I blew up the Death Star.  I came here originally to see the trees.  We didn't have trees back home, or an abundance of water, so I promised myself that I'd take advantage of any time I was on a green planet to just look at all the growing things."

"I can understand that.  It's like when people who have never seen snow get all excited when winter brings a storm their way."

"That would be me.  I've never seen snow either."

"It can be fun, but it's highly overrated.  Trust me."  Luke grinned and topped off his cup.  "Take it easy on that stuff.  You shouldn't drink and drive."

"I'll be okay."  He set the bottle back down.  "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, ask away."

"Remember back when I came to your room and you told me you had been praying."

"Yeah, I remember that.  What about it?"

Luke frowned, as if trying to think how he should word the question.  "Who was in there with you?'

Ari blinked.  "Huh?"

"I sensed that something was in there with you, something big, but I lost the feeling just before I knocked."

Aria bit down on her bottom lip.  How did you explain this without sounding like a complete loony.  "What… what did it feel like?"

"Big, powerful and old… very old."

"That would describe Him, alright."

"Describe whom?"

She took a deep breath.  "God.  He's big and powerful and old.  Older than anything, really."

Luke leaned back to rest on one elbow.  "Which god?"

"Just God.  In the religion I was raised in, we only believe in one.  We're taught that He created everything and everyone, and that He knows all that has ever happened, is happening or ever will happen."

"That's a lot of work for one entitiy."

"I know.  I didn't really believe in Him until recently.  I always thought that if He was all knowing and all powerful that He should keep us from doing stupid or evil things."

"What changed your mind?"

"I was having a bad day, told Him I didn't believe in Him and He decided to send me a message.  Since then I've figured that it's smarter to believe in God than to make Him angry."

"I haven't felt it since that time."

"Because He hasn't talked to me since then.  Actually, I feel better when He doesn't, when He just listens."

"Why is that?"

"Because from what I remember in Sunday School, the people He talked to were important.  They did Earth changing, monumental things.  The stuff of legends.  He talked to Noah and commanded him to build the biggest boat you can think of, put two of every animal on earth and any humans still faithful to God on it.  All of this was because the world had become too decadent and sinful, so God sent a massive flood to kill everything except what was in that boat.  He talked to Moses and had him face down the Pharoh of Egypt, call down the ten plagues, the last of which was the death of every first born, and then lead the Hebrews out of slavery.  He talked to Mary and she was chosen to give birth to His son.  The people He spoke to in the past were prophets and saints and kings.  I… I just think I have what it takes to be among that lot.  I can't help but be afraid that the next time He pops up to have a chat He's going to ask me to do something for Him, and I doubt I'll have what it takes to get the job done."

"Have you ever thought of converting to another religion?"

"Oh, no, that's one of the big rules.  One of the Ten Commandments:  Thou shalt not put any gods before Me, or something like that."

"Demanding, huh?"

"Not really.  I mean, He lets us have free will and expects us to be bright enough to make our own choices.  We just have to understand that there are consequences as well."

"So no changing to someone else."

"No changing to someone else."

They fell silent for a long time until Luke asked, "Would you want to change gods?"

Ari met his gaze, and then turned her eyes downward to study her wine.  "No, I don't think I would want to.  It's not just because He's a link to home.  It would just feel… wrong somehow."

"Then maybe you should stop doubting yourself."

"What?"

Luke smiled.  "If this being, this God, who has talked to prophets and saints and kings in the past, takes it upon Himself to talk to you, maybe it's because He sees something you don't.  Maybe He knows more of what you're capable of doing than you do."

"Are you telling me to 'have faith'."

"Yeah, I think I am.  I can't see the Force, but I know it's there.  It surrounds us and penetrates us.  A Jedi learned to use the Force and to let himself be used by it.  I may not be the best Jedi ever, I'm not even half-way trained, but that doesn't keep me from trusting it."

Aria gave Luke a puzzled little frown.  "You're an odd man, Luke Skywalker."

"How so?"

"One minute you're a fresh-faced farm boy who's somehow landed himself in the middle of a war, and the next you're a wise, old sage."

Luke grinned.  "The ways of the Force are vast and mysterious."

"Funny."

"What's funny about it?"

"When you put it that way, your Force sounds a lot like God."

"Maybe they're one and the same.  Why don't you ask Him the next time He decides to have a chat?"

~***~

When they finally got back to the base they only had about three hours to sleep before the next shift began.  Neither of them was looking forward to it.  Luke even went so far as to walk Ari to her quarters before heading off on his own.  She had never felt so completely and utterly relaxed in her life.  She still had a funny little half smile on her face as she fell onto her bunk without bothering to change clothes.

She had just started slipping into a dream that involved her and a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream smothered in hot fudge when she was awakened by someone pounding on her door.  The noise took her by surprise enough that she rolled out of her bunk and landed hard on the floor.  "WHAT?"

A muffled voice came through the door.  "St. Claire, get up!  We're bugging out!"  Ari scrambled to her feet and opened the door.  It was Chief. "New intel just came in.  The Imps have almost pinpointed our location, a week if we're lucky.  Everyone's to start packing for return to the cruisers.  Get to cryptography and help pack up our equipment then you can start on your personal gear."  He didn't wait for an acknowledgement, but headed off, no doubt to the next crypt's quarters.  Ari looked up and down the corridor and noted that just about everyone was going at a dead run.

She looked over her shoulder and peered at the clock.  She'd only gotten a little more than an hour of sleep.  This entire day was going to be a nightmare.  "I hate my life," she muttered before pulling on her boots and heading off to start packing.


	7. Under Suspicion

Plaything of the Gods:  
Under Suspicion  
  
  
"Tell me again why I'm in here?"  
  
"Because you have too many friends who are pilots. Those friends think you need to get over this."  
  
"I have no trouble with simulators, though."  
  
"This is just to teach you the controls. Once you've mastered that we'll put you in the real thing."  
  
Aria froze for a moment before throwing the simulator door open. Her eyes locked on the tech at the master controls. "They want to put me in a fighter?"  
  
Halo looked up from her screen and grinned. "Uh-huh."  
  
"I'm out of here." She slid out of the simulator and started toward the door. Halo ran from behind the control mod and stood in her way.  
  
"No you don't. The people who put me up this way outrank me."  
  
"Yes, but I'm your roomie and you have to live me with. I think that gives me more pull."  
  
"More pull than the head pilots of Rouge Squadron? Not quite."  
  
"Traitor."   
  
"No, just someone likes her job. Now get back in."  
  
Aria glared at the woman who had been sharing quarters with her for the past six months, but did as she was told. The truth was that Halo outranked her, but only by one step up. The fighter tech had been part of the Valiant until that ship made a narrow victory against two Imperial Star Destroyers. The battle had left the ship unsafe for the full crew, so three other ships had split up the crew members to be temporarily absorbed into their own while the Valiant was repaired. It was going to be a while, but still less time than constructing an entire new ship.   
  
Until then the perky blond was the person sleeping in the bunk across the slightly larger quarters Aria now lived in aboard ship. It wasn't that bad of a deal. Since the crypts were kept working impossible hours in what appeared to be a vain attempt at keeping at least two steps ahead of the Empire the pair of them rarely saw one another. This forty-eight consecutive hours of downtime was a luxury for Aria. She'd been able to sleep for fourteen hours straight and had hoped to spend some quite time re-reading one of the Bab-5 paperbacks she had dug out of her luggage. Halo, however, had drug her here.  
  
The simulators weren't bad. It was a lot like playing a really expensive arcade game, only you didn't have to give up half your life savings in quarters to get it started. She wasn't too bad at this one, either, but she seriously doubted that the Rebellion really wanted to put her inside the cockpit of a rather expensive piece of machinery like a real X-Wing. Halo had to be screwing with her, surely.   
  
She was just about to take out her third Tie when the simulator shut down. "Huh? Hey, Blondie! What gives?" Light flooded into the darkened simulator as someone opened the door. She flinched, shielding her eyes until they adjusted, and then looked up to find herself looking into Chief's age worn face. "I didn't get my down time messed up, did I?"  
  
"Something's come up. You'll need to come with me."  
  
"Sure thing." She unstrapped herself from the simulator and stepped out. Halo was standing behind the console still, worry etched into her features, and Aria immediately saw why. The Chief had come with two members of Security in tow. "Is there something wrong, Sir?"  
  
"It's not just you, Private. The whole team's being brought in for questioning."  
  
Ari exchanged a look with Halo before nodding and leaving with Major Gil, the guards about ten feet behind them. As they walked through the corridor she dared to ask, "What's this about, Sir?"  
  
"The upper brass are concerned about how fast the Imps are breaking our new codes. They suspect that one of us is giving them the keys."  
  
"And as the new guy I'm the prime suspect."  
  
"No, actually you're not. You were thoroughly interrogated under the influence of drugs when you first came to us and there is substantial evidence in the form of your personal belongings to back up your story. Although it's not impossible that the Empire dreamt it all up, it is highly unlikely."  
  
"That's good to know." They took a lift to three decks below. A couple of twists and turns later they were in a large room with the rest of the cryptology team, all of them in various states of stress and sleep deprivation. Once they arrived, the rest of the team got to their feet, all of them looking toward Chief for some words of encouragement.  
  
"Now everyone try to relax. I know this feels like and insult to all of us, but if we take the time to think through this rationally we should all be able to see Their side of things."  
  
"And after they grill us all and realize this is a waste of time? What then?" This came from a Twi'lek who had only been with them for less than a year, less time than Ari.   
  
"Then we'll be cleared and they'll re-examine their choices."  
  
Grumbles were bountiful, but there was little any of them could do about their present situation. Instead they waited patiently until someone with enough rank to clue them in made an appearance. Perhaps intending to soften the blow a bit, the higher up had sent in Leia. To her credit, she didn't look very happy about what was going on either.  
  
"I am sure that by now Major Gil has advised you all on what is to happen here today." Silence greeted her. Ari tried to offer a reassuring smile as Leia steeled herself, but even she was feeling more than a little insulted by the whole affair. "Under the current circumstances Command feels that all precautions have to be made to ensure that security hasn't been compromised."  
  
Ari's tongue was about to get away from her, but she was stopped by one of her teammates pinching her arm. She managed not to yelp, but glared at the smiling corporal as she rubbed her underarm.   
  
"You will each be questioned in turn while under the influence of a truth serum. Under most circumstances this would be sufficient, but in order to ensure that no one has been tampered with by the Emperor or Lord Vader we will also need to have your thoughts scanned during the debriefing."  
  
This gave everyone a pause. Ari frowned, more than a bit confused, and looked over at Corporal Nass who was the one who dared to broach the subject. "Ma'am, what exactly is that going to entail?"  
  
"Yeah, what he said."  
  
Leia took a deep breath. "Commander Skywalker has been asked to assist with the process." There was an immediate increasing in the grumblings.   
  
"Assist? As in he's going to be poking around inside our skulls?" That made everyone silent. Leia shot Ari a rather severe scowl. "Sorry."  
  
"Are there any other questions?" No one looked very happy about it, but there was little that could be done. "We'll send in a guard to summon each of you in turn."  
  
Chief stood up. "Your Highness, I'll go first." The rest of the team immediately stood up, each voicing protest. Leia shook her head.  
  
"Major Hatur, Command doesn't suspect you in this."  
  
"Your Highness, if you suspect my team, then you suspect me. I will go first."  
  
Leia paused, then nodded in agreement. Without another word, she turned and entered into the room where, presumably, the brass who were behind the entire thing were waiting. As for the crypts, they were all staring at their Chief in silent respect and gratitude. None of them quite knew what to say.  
  
~***~  
  
Aria, whether because she was one of the newest or because she was the last resort, was the last one to be called in. So far every member of the team who had been questioned had refused to leave the antechamber when they were done. Slightly dazed from the serum, they each had taken a seat and remained there for moral support of their fellows. When the guard came for her, Chief gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.   
  
The other room seemed somewhat severe. It was gray on gray like most of the ship, but somehow the chorus of stern faces made it seem all the more unwelcoming. Even Leia seemed more serious that usual. There was a medic present to administer the serum, and next to him stood Luke, trying his best not to appear like a fresh faced farm kid. His stoic expression, however, did falter when his eyes met her own.   
  
"Hey."  
  
"Hey." Luke watched as she was settled into the chair in the center of the room, the medic indicating that she should roll up her sleeve.  
  
"Commander Skywalker, are you certain you will be able to continue with this... particular interrogation?"  
  
Luke and Ari both looked over to the speaker, a gray-faced general who looked as though his face would crack in two if he smiled. Luke nodded. "Yes, Sir."  
  
"Uhm, no offense, Luke, but are you sure you know what you're doing?"  
  
"What?" He blinked, as though surprised she was asking such a question.   
  
"It's just that you told me yourself that you're stumbling around in the dark as far as this entire Jedi thing goes. How do I know you won't accidentally scramble something in my head and leave me to stare a wall with a line of drool coming out of my mouth for the rest of my life?"  
  
The corner of his mouth quirked up. "Watch it with all the confidence. You'll inflate my head so much I won't be able to get my helmet on anymore."  
  
"I'm serious."  
  
"I'm not going to hurt you."  
  
"Promise?"  
  
"Promise. I'm just going to make sure that you're really who you think you are and that you're not just some sort of sleeper agent with a false identity planted over the top."  
  
"Oh, I can answer that. I'm not. Can I go now? OUCH!" Ari glared down at the needle now in her arm. "Where the hell did you learn how to do that, Buddy? A POW camp?"  
  
No one asked her to elaborate, but it wouldn't have mattered much if they had. The serum began to take effect almost instantly, causing a general feeling of drowsiness. As though from a distance she heard the Medic's voice advising her to relax and count backwards from twenty. She didn't remember much after seventeen.  
~***~  
  
"Nothing. Not a thing from any of them! It has to be one of them. No one else would have the access needed." General Stoge slammed his fist onto the table.  
  
"Not necessarily, General." Mon Mothma studied the young woman still dozing in the center chair. "Cryptology was the most likely place to look, but there are many people within the Alliance with the knowledge, skills and opportunity to obtain the codes and pass them on to the Empire."  
  
"So we interrogate the entire fleet? That will take years." Stoge glared at Private St. Claire. "Commander Skywalker, what of you? Can you see anything inside her mind?"  
  
Luke frowned, but said nothing. He had been an unwilling party to this entire affair. The rest of the team had all scanned clean, but he truly didn't want to poke around inside Ari's head. Part of it was because it felt like an invasion. Part of it was because he was half-afraid that he might run across something about himself he didn't particularly like. The rest of it was because he couldn't help but think of the deity she followed that had an unnerving habit of popping in to chat with her from time to time. What if that Force presence took offense to his being there?  
  
"Commander Skywalker?"  
  
"Sorry, Sir. I'll commence."   
  
He tried to be careful, not wanting to injure her. Aria had been right to be concerned. Dipping into someone's thoughts was a risky business, especially when you weren't entirely sure of how it was to be done.   
  
Under the truth serum her thoughts were likely to jump from one topic to another. One second she was replaying her turn in the simulator inside her mind, the next she was thinking in some weird, disjointed language as though typing it into a computer screen. Occasionally he caught glimpses that were dreams focusing on her family, so far away from where she was now. There was a feeling of homesickness and more than a little uncertainty about finding herself in the middle of this war.   
  
What was missing, however, was any sign that someone had used the Dark Side of the Force to alter her memories in any way. She was just as clean as the rest of them.   
  
"There's nothing there. She's not the one." Of course she wasn't, but they had to check. Luke was starting to pull out of her mind, ignoring the grumblings of General Stoge, when he felt something he hadn't felt in a while. In what had been just Aria was now joined by the Force presence he had been half fearing would make an appearance. It stopped him from retreating for just a bare second, just long enough to 'send' a thread of reassurance before it gently, but firmly, pushed him out.  
  
"Luke?" Leia rose from her seat as he stumbled back a few steps. "Are you all right."  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine." He could feel the presence all about them, like a weight that was imperceptible and yet just shy of being smothering at the same time. "I'm fine."  
  
"What happened?"  
  
Luke turned his head to look over his shoulder at the Princess. "It's Him again."  
  
The general leaned forward. "The Emperor? Lord Vader?"  
  
Leia shook her head. "Neither of them." She gave a cautious glance at Aria and realized that the woman's eyes were now wide open, although she didn't appear to be seeing anything. "Is she all right?"  
  
"She'll be fine. He's never harmed her. Although, He's never done this before. In fact, I haven't felt Him around for months. He doesn't do this very often."  
  
"What are you two talking about?"  
  
"General, we have reason to believe that an unknown Force presence keeps in irregular contact with Private St. Claire. Commander Skywalker has felt it when it was approaching her."  
  
"A Force presence, and it's not the Emperor or Vader? What about you, Commander? Is it you?"  
  
"No, General, it's not me. Whatever it is, it's very old and very powerful."  
  
"It is a danger, Commander?" Mon Mothma's voice was soothing and kind when compared to the General's.  
  
"Not to us. I've never sensed any sort of threat from it. Whatever it is, it's..." Luke paused and turned his head back toward Aria. "It's gone."  
  
Aria took a quick breath and sat up straight, no sign of any side effects from the truth serum present in her eyes. She waved away the medic when he tried to approach her, her expression one of contemplation. "That made absolutely no sense whatsoever."  
  
Luke walked over to her and squatted down beside the chair. "What was it? What did He tell you?"  
  
Ari rubbed her eyes. "I don't know. He did the riddle thing again."  
  
"Mon Mothma, this woman is clearly a danger to the Alliance, even if she isn't the leak! Unknown entities running around in her head whenever they please? How long before one of them tells her to hurt us?"  
  
"Two movies, a great war and my job? What is that all supposed to mean? Can't He just give me a straight answer for once?"  
  
"General, Aria St. Claire is not a threat. If this Force presence intended any harm toward the Alliance it could have done so when she first arrived. And from what Luke has said, he doesn't think that whatever it is needs Aria to accomplish anything."   
  
"Princess, the General has a right to be concerned. The encryption codes meant to keep the Alliance safe are falling into the hands of our enemies with alarming speed. We are all concerned."  
  
"What was the conversation about?"  
  
"Oh, He made some crack about being sure I didn't get addicted to the truth serum and then started going on about how the solution was in the movies."  
  
"Mon Mothma, Aria has given us no reason to doubt or mistrust her. She scanned and questioned as innocent. They all did. It's time we put an end to this persecution of the entire team and considered other possiblities. The longer we keep down this path the more time the spy has to cover his tracks."  
  
"Any idea what He meant by that?"  
  
Aria started to shake her head, then paused. "My job... as in my crypt job. A great war and two movies." She frowned as she rolled the clues over inside her mind, the conversation between Mon Mothma, Leia and the general fading into the background. "A great war, two movies and codes..."   
  
No one could have blamed the arguing trio for stopping to look at Ari as though she had gone mad. Her laughter was quite unsettling. "Oh, that's good... that's real good. It would take a while, but it just might work."  
  
"What might work?" Luke tried to get her to focus, to let him know what she was talking about.  
  
"But only if we have the books. Only if they made it in the bug out."   
  
"Aria? You're starting to sound like a mad woman."  
  
She finally focused, looking at Luke. "It just might work. Come on!" She stood up and grabbed Luke's arm, pulling him toward the door. Leia called out to her, but when they didn't stop she opted to follow them.  
  
"Private?" Gil stood up, along with the rest of the team, as Ari and Luke came back through the door.  
  
"Chief! You need to come, too. The rest of you... just stay here." She let go of Luke and headed toward the door. Luke and Gil gave each other an puzzled look as Leia came up to them, but then all three followed in her wake.  
  
The hodge podge collection of luggage and boxes that made up Aria's personal belongings was kept in a storage bay along with her converted speeder. Luke, Leia and Gil watched in silence as she tore through one after the other, tossing various items aside as she searched for something. Luke was the only one who dared to try and speak to her. "Uhm... Ari? What are you doing?"  
  
"Look for some books."  
  
"Okay. Can you tell us why?"  
  
"To help out with our current problem. It took a moment to figure out what the heck He was talking about, but I think I got it."  
  
"Got what?"  
  
She pushed aside another box that failed to yield results and moved onto the next. "He said that I knew the answer, I just had to think of the right things: A great war and two movies that dealt with the kind of stuff I'm already doing. If you ignore the One Hundred Year War, that leaves the World Wars, one and two. It didn't make any sense, so I thought about movies."  
  
"Okay... and that resulted in...?"  
  
"There are only two movies I could think of that had anything to do with encryption. One was called something like 'U-571' or 'U-751', I can't recall the actual name. Anyway, I think they really butchered it, because if I'm not mistaken the original sub crew was British, but they made them American in the movie. Anyway, the plot was that they, the sub crew, were trying to hijack a German submarine in order to steal an Enigma device. It was an encoding machine that the Nazi's were using. You couldn't break the code without the device."  
  
Gil's interest was peaked now. "You have a book that tells you how to make one of these devices?"  
  
"Nope, 'fraid not." Her voice was muffled with her head buried in a box as it was. "That brings me to the other move, also set during World War II. It was all about the Navajo Code." She finally straightned up with three thick books in her hands. "It was a code used by the Allied forces, still technically unbroken. The Americans used a code within a code, encrypting the message to be sent, then sending that message in the Navajo language. Since the only continent where the Navajo language was spoken was in North America, it wasn't something the Germans would know. And since it was already encrypted if they did manage to capture an American soldier who just happened to be Navajo, all they got out of it was something like 'table rock throw bird', complete gibberish."  
  
Leia frowned. "What are you thinking, then?"  
  
"I'm thinking that I'm the only person in this entire galaxy with these." She held up the books for them to see. "One is a copy of Webster's English collegiate dictionary, and the other two are a Chinese to English dictionary and an English to Chinese dictionary. One of the pitfalls of a modern college educations; everyone has to take at least two semesters of a foreign language. I chose Chinese because the written laguage is more like art than a language, but it was a 7:30 class, which is far too early to ask any person in their late teens to get up and think. It was the only class I failed, mainly because I skipped most of it."  
  
Luke looked confused. "How's this going to help us?"  
  
Gil, however, was getting the idea. "Because a computer is only as smart as you make it. The Empire knows every written language in the galaxy and has it programmed into their computers."  
  
"But since written English and Chinese aren't from this galaxy, they won't have anyway to read these? Even if they intercept a message, their computers won't be able to make sense of them. It will just come out as random symbols, if they come out at all." Aria walked over to the major and offered the books for his examination. "Of course, we shouldn't just use it in the main computers. All it would take is one good slicer to steal the language program and our code is worthless."  
  
Gil nodded. "And that's where this Enigma Device idea comes in. A separate encoding device, independent of the computers." He smiled like a cat offered a very rich bowl of cream. "It's almost foolproof."  
  
"Almost?" Leia quirked a brow. "But if the Empire doesn't have the base language..."  
  
"Then I'd be the weak link. English is my first language, my native language. Even if we destroy the dictionaries after we've written the language program, if I were to be captured I might be forced to translate the words themselves." Aria looked toward the major. "We should do the double encryption thing, like with the Navajo code. That way if I'm forced to translate the English words, I still won't have the full key."  
  
Gil was flipping through one of the Chinese dictionaries. "This is going to take a lot of work. We'll need to write a lot of code."  
  
"I can do that part, or at least oversee it. We'll need to recruit help from some other teams so I can have the manpower needed to cut down the time, but I think I should be kept out of everything else. As long as all I do is write the code to teach your hardware to understand written English, then the code will be more secure. We can get that part up and running first, which should buy us time while another team uses the English to Chinese book to start writing the next part of the code. Have other teams do the Basic encryption."  
  
Gil grinned down at Aria, something just a tad bit devious alight in his eyes. "You've got two days to polish that idea up enough to present it to the brass. It's a good enough idea that it won't take much to convince them." He handed the books back to Aria. "Keep those safe. All our lives may depend on them." He ruffled her hair much like he would a small child's and turned around to leave. "And clean up this mess before you go."  
  
Aria rolled her eyes before turning around to face Luke and Leia. Leia looked impressed. "Good job, Ari. I'll make sure you have a time scheduled to be seen before Command. But you might want to make sure your uniform is a little better pressed." She gave her a brief hug before walking out into the hall. That left only Luke, who took a deep breath.  
  
"That's a very useful friend you've got, there."  
  
"Father of All, Creator of All... yeah, He's pretty useful. A bit annoying at times with all the cryptic stuff, but useful."  
  
"Cryptic or not, He just nudged you the right direction to save all our skins. Still feeling nervous and overwhelmed by being singled out?"  
  
Aria nodded. "Constantly, but He hasn't asked me to part the Red Sea or call down fire and brimstone, so I think I'll manage."  
  
Luke grinned. "I'm not going to ask what those relate to. I'm just glad that an answer's been found."  
  
"Me, too." Ari looked down at the three books in her hands and smiled slightly. It was going to be a challenge, but it really could save all their skins.   



	8. Interlude

Plaything of the Gods:  
Interlude  
  
  
"So how is the project coming along?"  
  
"Can't tell you that."  
  
"Well, why not?"  
  
"Because it's classified."  
  
"C'mon... dontcha trust me?"  
  
"Sure I trust you... about as much as I would trust one of my brothers."  
  
"Typical." Han leaned back into the cushions on his side of the booth. "I meet a girl who's smart, talented and good looking... and she thinks of me like I'm her brother. Of all the luck."  
  
"Awwwww... poor baby." Ari grinned and ducked as Han threw something that resembled a peanut at her head. "Besides, I'm a bit too common to really spark your interests. Why are you down here instead up there trying to charm the socks off a certain high-born pretty."  
  
"What? A miss all the fun down here?" He spread his arms wide to indicate the group of rebels, all dressed in ordinary clothing and enjoying a trip planet side. They had come to a system that was sympathetic to the Alliance to restock on sorely needed supplies. It also gave everyone a chance to let their hair down and relax. The owner of the cantina wasn't upset about it either. Apparently his little club was usually overlooked because he couldn't keep a house band, but as the other cantinas in the city weren't too keen on the rebels desire to bring their own music he was more than happy to let them in. Currently a random mix of 80's dance music and 90's alternative rock was pouring out of an astromech droid one of the pilots had brought down. Some people were dancing while others were playing various games. It was like Dickson Street during a Trek convention.  
  
"She's mad at you again, isn't she?"  
  
"What? Of course not." Han took a swig of the ale he had bought, but when he put his glass back down Ari was still giving him a skeptical look. "Okay, she's a little upset about me taking that smuggling job a while back instead of sticking around and doing some job for the Alliance."  
  
"Hmmm. Well, there's only one thing to be done."  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"Presents. Shiny, sparkly presents."  
  
"I'm all for that!" Halo slid into the booth next to Aria, a grin pasted from ear to ear. "I love presents. The more sparkle, the better."  
  
"If I had that kind of money I wouldn't have a price on my head." He waved for another ale. "What took you so long to get here?"  
  
"Yours truly had a brilliant idea and just had to act on it."   
  
"What kind of idea?" Ari asked as she stole one of the fried confections her roommate had brought to the table with her.  
  
"A different way of looking for our little spy."  
  
"Really? What?"  
  
"Well, after they ruled out all you top-secret-code-type people, who did they start looking at?"  
  
"The other brainiacs in the fleet. The techs and such."  
  
"And am I the only one who thinks that putting the spy among the technical fields is blatantly obvious? All you need is a good slicer."  
  
Han shrugged. "She's got a point."  
  
"So how are you going to track that?"  
  
"One of your little 'Star Writer' teammates who happens to be cute enough to date. He's also a slicer as well. He's opted not to come down here so he can poke around and see if he can find any tracks where there shouldn't be any."  
  
"Hope he finds something. I have to admit that I'm paranoid the spy will somehow get into the room we're using and get his hands on the language code before we're done. We've got security beefed up like mad. We don't even let droids in."  
  
"That's a smart move considering all that's been going on lately." Han stole one of Halo's sweets before she could slap his hand away. "The Alliance has been losing secrets fast. To hear Luke and Leia talk, this Star Writer code of yours is likely to put a stop to most of that."  
  
"We hope so. The idea is a good one. Integrity of the code is the key."  
  
"So how's it coming?"  
  
Aria looked up into Han's smiling face. "Nice try, fly boy." There was a change in the noises coming from the other side of the cantina. The trio looked over to see that one of the techs had taken over the droid and was motioning for everyone to quiet down. "What's going on?"  
  
Halo grinned. "Oh, it's something new they've started doing. If you'd pull yourself away from your work more often you'd have heard about it. They've taken everyone's favorite songs and made a copy without the words, then they try to sing the songs themselves."  
  
Aria looked at Halo, her jaw slightly open. "They've discovered Karaoke? That is wrong on so many levels I can't even begin to count them."  
  
"Karaoke?"  
  
"That's what we call it where I come from. And these guys are just about plastered enough to do it." As if on cue, a trio of pilots got up, each with a glass of ale in hand, and started an attempted of "It's Getting Hot in Here". "Okay, I've had enough insanity for one day. I'm leaving."  
  
~***~  
  
It didn't matter how old you were or if you had any of the other contributing factors of carpal tunnel syndrome, if you typed for ten hours straight, your hands were going to hurt. Aria had to take a break to shake her fingers out. She glanced across the mostly bare room at the tech who was sitting at a screen closer to the door. "Shouldn't you be gone by now?"  
  
"Oh, I'm not working on that anymore. I'm looking for our little friend."  
  
"Any luck?"  
  
"A bit. He's good, whomever he is. Damn good. Just the barest ghost of traces left behind to show that he was ever there. And he hasn't just been in your crypt files, either. He's been in comm, navigation, gunnery control..."  
  
"Great, so he might have things rigged so he can take the entire ship if he needed to."  
  
"Nothing that ambitious. It would make it too easy to get caught." Dece tapped a few more keys. "He's just snagging information here and there. No telling what the Imps know about us by now."  
  
"But still no idea what name goes with the spy?"  
  
"Not yet, but I think we'll at least be able to narrow down where he's accessing all this from. I think Halo had it pegged: It's definitely someone in one of the non-tech or low tech groups. Someone no one would think to look at."  
  
"Slipping in under the scanners. Let's run this by security, see when they want to make a move."  
  
"Hopefully not until Star Writer's ready to run. The last thing we need is for whoever it is to go running off to the Imps and rat us out before we have a secure way to transmit orders to the rest of the fleet." Aria glanced over at the smooth, black box that was the prototype for the decoders. The plan was to put them in the ships, never in the same location in any two ships, where they would be used to encode already scrambled messages into written English for transmission out to allies. "How do you know it's not a tech?"  
  
"Because he's using terminals that are for common use instead of a more private system in a tech area."  
  
"Maybe he's just being careful."  
  
"That's possible, but you forget that they're still doing the question-and-answer thing with the higher tech groups. If he's in there, they'll find him."  
  
"We hope." Aria rubbed her eyes as the door slid open and four people entered. "Ah, the night shift has arrived!"  
  
"And we come bearing gifts." Yeasa, a clever Bothan with a streak of humor entirely out of place with the rest of her race, was carrying a tray of food and beverages. "We haven't eaten we doubt you have either. Care for something before we have the guards drag you off to bed?"  
  
"That's no way to talk to your superior."  
  
"Oh, listen to you. They pin an officer rank on you so you have the authority to boss us around and you start to put on airs." The others all grabbed their chairs and drug them over to circle around one of the flat steel tables. Ari had gotten a lot of playful ribbing since her rather amazing promotion to Lieutenant. She had been reluctant to take it at first, but Major Hatur had pointed out that she was going to need it in order to do her job. It had been the general consensus among Command, after a lot of praise from both Chief and Leia, that Aria should play an important part in the leadership behind Star Writer. Gil was still at the top of the chain, but Ari was key to the project, which meant she had to have the rank needed to give orders. Lieutenant was the first ranking for officer in the Alliance Army, but it did, technically, put her over the enlisted and non-coms. Of course, she would never dare to try and boss around a Master Sergeant with a good decade or more experience over her.  
  
Halo hadn't liked it at all. With the higher rank it had become improper for them to share quarters any longer. Ari had been moved into a small, but private, room of her own and Halo had been stacked up in one of the larger rooms that already had two occupants. She was forever grousing that her new roommates were nowhere near a fun as Aria and had a tendency to act like giggly school girls. They were both in Comm and were rather talkative.  
  
Ari snagged a sandwich before leaning back. "So, everyone handling things all right?"  
  
"Wonderfully. It helps that you did the hard part."  
  
The first step had been to translate the written English into Basic, which Aria had done herself. It was taking a long time to work through the thick dictionary. As she completed a pages and added them to the database on her shift, the second shift would come in and match the English words with the Chinese characters. Aria locked up her system when she left, leaving them only the written English, they locked up their systems when they left so that no one could see the English to Chinese code. The dictionaries were locked up in a safe that only Aria, Gil and Yeasa had the combination to. Guards were posted outside the door of the work room at all times and only those cleared to work on the project could enter. Most of the fleet still didn't know what they were working on, although rumors abounded.  
  
The group ate their meal amidst jokes and laughter. They were becoming close knit, like family, in spite of their different races and cultural backgrounds. In the back of her mind Aria wondered at it all, this camaraderie, and had to wonder just how the Empire could be so cruel to the non-human races. She learned something new from them every day, something that only someone from another race could have experienced on their world. It was a wealth of knowledge just waiting to be tapped and the possibilities from it all were limitless.   
  
She finished off the last bite of her sandwich and brushed the crumbs from her hands. "Hey, Slacker, it's time we got out of here and let these guys get to it."  
  
"Your wish is my command! Let's swap out the books so I can go drag Halo out for a stroll on the upper decks."  
  
"I don't want to hold you up, Lover Boy."  
  
Aria locked her computer out and carried the dictionary over to the safe. Everyone else turned around to face the opposite wall as if on que while she keyed in the combination to open the door. The English dictionary was put in and the two Chinese dictionaries were removed to be handed over to Yaesa. "The English lists are on your terminals. Have fun."  
  
"Oh, it's thrilling. I do like the language, though. It's beautiful." The Bothan opened up one of the dictionaries and smiled to herself as she studied the text.  
  
"That's what interested me in it in the first place. You should see what they do with it back home. That paint these gorgeous wall hangings with poetry and verses painted down the sides."  
  
"Too bad you didn't have any of those in your personal belongings."  
  
"Oh, no. Too expensive. I'm just a poor farm girl."  
  
"Oh yeah, the poor farm girl thing. I almost forgot."  
  
"Forgot what?"  
  
Yaesa's face broke into a grin. "There was an equally poor farm boy hovering outside when we came here. I think he was waiting for you to get done."  
  
Aria glared at her friend. "I hate you."  
  
Sure enough, when Aria and Dece left the work room, Luke was trying to look casual as he waited outside. He smiled when he spotted her and shrugged. "I'm not on the team, so they wouldn't let me in. Apparently being Luke Skywalker wasn't enough to convince them."  
  
Aria smiled and looked over at the guard to her right, noting the red flush that had crept up into his cheeks. "Good job, Corporal. I'll be sure to tell your CO how well you're doing."  
  
His shoulders straightened, a look of relief passing over his face. "Thank you, Ma'am."  
  
"Hey, who's side are you on?" Luke tried to look hurt.  
  
"I'm on our side, and our side needs some higher quality locks right now."  
  
He smiled and nodded. "Agreed." Tilting his head to one side he nodded in the direction Dece had already used to leave. "Care to take a walk? I promise I won't let anything happen to you."  
  
"As long as you don't try to put me into an X-Wing."   
  
Luke grinned. "I'm going to get you into an X-Wing one of these days, and you'll absolutely love it."  
  
"Just keep telling yourself that, fly boy."  
  
"How long before I have to let you go?"  
  
Aria pondered this for a while, considering how long she had been awake. "I can give you three or four hours. What did you have in mind?"  
  
"We have the entire fleet at our disposal. Well, except for your work room. On the other hand, on my last scouting mission with Han I managed to pick up some candies from Giloan that I've been saving until I saw you. I think you'll like them."  
  
"Candies? I haven't had a sweet in... come to think of it I can't remember the last time I had anything truly sweet. You have my undivided attention."  
  
"Deal. This way." Luke took her by the hand and tugged her in the direction of another corridor. A few twists and turns later they were at a door in the officers area on the opposite side as Ari's room. Luke's quarters were a lot larger than her own, one of the perks of being a hero. The Alliance didn't have nearly unlimited funds like the Empire, so the perks of moving up in rank were found in the living quarters. Luke actually had the equivalent of a full sized bed and a decent size sonic shower in his 'fresher. Ari's was large enough to turn around in, but not by much, and her bed was the width of twin, but extra-long. "Make yourself at home."  
  
Ari took a seat on a small couch by one wall, grateful to be able to sit down without a computer terminal in front of her face. Luke opened a crate near the foot of his bed and pulled out a box that was carved out of some sort of highly polished wood before joining her. When the box was opened about one dozen confections were revealed, each one a rich shade of red with delicate lines of white frosting. "What are they called?"  
  
"Taste of Paradise. Leia suggested them. She said that women always love them."  
  
"Taking advise from Leia, are we?"  
  
Luke blushed, which made him look very much like an innocent farm boy rather than the battle seasoned soldier he was. "Well, I figured if I was going to buy something to share with a girl... I should ask a girl."  
  
"I love a man with brains." Aria grinned and selected one of the sweets and took a bite. As the flavor burst over her taste buds she felt her throat tighten and her eyes began to tear up. She chewed up the bite and swallowed it before sniffing.   
  
"What's wrong?" Luke's voice was alarmed as he set the box down and reached out toward her.  
  
"It's chocolate."  
  
"What?"  
  
She sniffed again and took a breath before continuing. "It tastes like chocolate." From the expression on his face, it was obvious that he didn't get it. "It's a type of sweet back home. Any sane woman loves it and it comes in all different shapes and types. When I got here I thought that I'd never taste it again."  
  
"So this is a good thing?"   
  
She bit off a laugh and nodded. "It's a very good thing. I love them. Thank you." She leaned over and put her head on his shoulder as she took another bite of the candy. Luke brought his arms up around her and kissed the top of her head. "Sorry to go all girl on you."  
  
"It's all right. You're homesick. Lot's of people here get emotional when they come across something that reminds them of home."  
  
"Do you get all emotional over a sandstorm?"  
  
Luke grinned into her hair. "No, but space is more my home than any planet. There's nothing left for me on Tattooine any more."  
  
"Must be lonely for you."  
  
"Not at all. I've got you and Leia and Han, the guys in my squad. I've got my Jedi studies. I don't have time to be lonely."  
  
Ari finished off the last bite of the candy and licked her fingers clean before wrapping her other arm about his waist. "I never had a chance to tell you 'thank you' for standing up for me with Command."  
  
"Leia and Major Hatur did most of it."  
  
"Yeah, but having everyone's favorite hero in my corner didn't hurt any."  
  
"I do what I can. I felt lousy about that entire thing anyway. I did not want to be poking around inside the minds of some of our brightest people. I know I tried to play it off during the interrogation, but I actually was worried that I might mess something up."  
  
"What does your Jedi training actually consist of, anyway?"  
  
"Meditation exercises, trying to learn to trust my instincts. I'm working with a drastic handicap, actually. Before Vader and the Emperor killed the Jedi, they started training at almost infancy. You grew up learning to be a Jedi. I didn't start until just a few years ago, and I only had an actual teacher for a short time. I'm trying to learn all this based on rumors and legends. The Imps purged most records of the Jedi and their teachings. Probably the only accurate records would be in the possession of Vader or Palpatine."  
  
"Gee, that'll be easy to get our hands on."  
  
"Love the sarcasm there."   
  
"Thanks. That was good, wasn't it. Actually, what does it involve. I mean, I've had you in my head... you didn't see anything embarrassing did you?"  
  
"No, I didn't poke around in anything personal."  
  
Ari made an exaggerated gesture of relief. "But seriously, is there something you can show me, something that would help me understand?"  
  
Luke looked up at the ceiling as he considered it. "Something that I won't botch because you'll make me nervous? I guess I could show you the first exercise Ben put me through."  
  
"Okay. What was that?"  
  
Luke got up, giving Ari a chance to steal another piece of candy from the box on his side of the sofa while he walked over to a chest. He opened it, taking out a helmet and an orb with what looked like silver eyes all around it. "It was a saber practice. Here, try this on." He set the helmet over her head.  
  
"Uhm... dude... I can't see anything, dude. It's all black."  
  
"That's the idea." He took the helmet back and stepped back from her. He then switched on the little bot and let it go so that it hovered in front of himself before he put the helmet on. Ari watched as he unhooked the cylinder he always wore, what he called his 'light saber' and flicked a switch. A beam of softly glowing blue light extended from it and the little hovering ball took action. It began to weave before him, and while Ari watched, Luke blocked no less than six stun bolts... all while blindfolded.  
  
"Whoa! How did you do that?"  
  
"Luke pulled off his helmet. "Through the Force. You have to listen to it, let it guide you and tell you what's going on. Ben said that you can't believe your eyes because they can deceive you. The Force will always guide you in the right direction."  
  
"And that's how you managed that shot on the Death Star. They told me that you switched off your targeting computer and just took the shot on your own."  
  
Luke nodded as he put the training droid an helmet back in the crate. "That was how." He shut the lid as Ari got up and crossed the room to stand beside him.   
  
"Can I see that?" She pointed to the light saber. He unclipped it and handed it to her for her inspection. "What is done to make the blade end like it does?"  
  
"I don't know for sure. I've been reluctant to take it apart, and I didn't have the chance to get Ben's when he was killed. I didn't build this one, it used to be my father's."  
  
"What can it go through?"  
  
"Just about anything but another light saber." Luke turned her around and put his arms about her so that he could place his hands over her own. Under his guidance he helped her ignite the blade and guided her movements so she could hear the differences in the humming sounds it made. "That's how I lost Ben, in a light saber duel with Vader. He was buying us time to escape, I can see that now, because all the storm troopers there at the time had wandered over to watch."  
  
"A laser sword. Impressive. You'll have to be in close quarters to use it, but if you can block blaster bolts like you did those stunners, it'd be highly useful. I like."  
  
Luke turned the saber off and set it on his dresser. "Too bad you're not a force user with one of your own, then we could practice together." He stepped back to sit on the edge of the bed.  
  
"You wouldn't be afraid that you'd be beaten by a girl?" Ari grinned as she joined him, facing him with one foot on the floor and the other leg bent so that her foot was underneath the other knee. Luke shook his head, grinning.  
  
"I wouldn't be bothered to be beaten by you. As clever as you are, it'd be an honor to just meet you in combat."  
  
"Hey, stop it. You keep on like that and I won't be able to fit my head through the doors."  
  
Luke smiled and leaned forward to rest his forehead against hers. "I mean it, though. You're as smart as Wedge told me."  
  
"And hopefully making a much better impression now than when we first met."  
  
"You mean when I was making you so nervous you couldn't string more than three words together?"  
  
"You know, a gentleman wouldn't remind a girl of that."  
  
Luke smiled tilted his head just a bit. Ari almost missed it, it was so unexpected, but she felt something soft and warm brush against her lips. It seemed like the most natural thing in creation to lean forward and kiss him back.   
  
Everything else seemed to fade away. The ambient hum of the lights could no longer be heard, she wasn't even conscious of the bed beneath her. All the dancing around the idea and the trying to ignore the machinations of their friends were forgotten. Ari had been kissed before, of course, but the few guys who had managed to slip under her family's radar and one or two fellow geeks at school had all fizzled out. Luke was different from all of them, making her senses spiral and her whole being seem to float.  
  
She was content to be here with him. After being separated from people she loved and knew for so long, finding someone she felt comfortable touching for more than a handshake or brief hug was welcomed. That someone being a person she genuinely cared for was even better. She could return every kiss and touch without hesitation and her heart felt all the lighter for it. It wasn't until she felt the heat of a hand on bare skin that she was brought crashing back to reality.  
  
"Luke... Luke stop." She pushed at his shoulders, not sure when they had laid down on the bed. He lifted up and aside, allowing her to sit up. It took a few seconds of cool air against her skin before she realized that at some point the front of her uniform had been opened. Her fingers were shaking as she began to close it. "We have to stop. I have to stop."  
  
'I'm sorry. Did I do something wrong?"  
  
Ari stood up, still trying to fasten the top. "No, you didn't. Believe me, you didn't. It's the rules."  
  
"What rules?" Luke sat up, his skin as flushed as her own felt.   
  
"A long time ago, and I mean a long time ago... God gave his followers these rules. There were ten of them." She fastened the last clasp and took a deep breath. "I can never remember all of them, just the major ones like no stealing and don't lie. But one of them was about not committing fornication, which is sexual relations outside of the bonds of matrimony. And as much as I would love to stay here and finish this, and believe when I say that I would love to do exactly that, if the Big Guy is going to be popping into my computer and popping into my head, I really think I need to follow His rules."  
  
"Okay."  
  
Ari blinked. "Okay? You're not going to just fly off the handle like other guys and get mad at me for stopping?"  
  
"Well, it's not 'okay', but I can understand. I don't like it, but I understand. There are planets and cultures in this galaxy with the same kind of rules. If you have to stop... we stop."  
  
Aria stared at him, speechless for a moment. "Stop being so damn perfect. How can you be this great? No guy is this great."  
  
"I'm not perfect." Luke sighed. "But I really think that I can look through all the Alliance and all the Galaxy... and I'd never find another person like you. It's not just because you're from a different galaxy, it's because you have managed to keep yourself from being reduced to a child and risen to the challenge thrown at you. Wedge was right about that. There are a lot of people who couldn't have withstood the stress of what you're going through."  
  
"What about Leia." Aww... great... she was jealous. Did she sound jealous? She hoped not.  
  
"Leia... she was my dream girl... but she's not for me. She may deny it and try to avoid it, but she's meant for Han. I don't want a princess anymore." He got up and walked over to where Ari stood. Raising his arms he framed her face in his hands. "I don't like it and I'm going to be uncomfortable for the rest of the night, but I understand. I respect you for what you're going through and I respect you too much to ask you to break rules you know you need to be following. So I suggest that you turn around and go to bed before we both forget our good intentions and do something I believe both of us really want. I'm glad to have met you and I don't want to do something to screw that up."  
  
"You know, your being so noble is not making this easier."  
  
Luke gave her a sad sort of smile. "I don't think this is going to be easy on either of us. Then again, I don't think that either of us was born to have an easy life."  
  
"There you go, being all wise again." Ari bent her head forward and rested it against his own. "Thank you for understanding."  
  
"I understand. I don't like it, but I understand." He kissed here again, just a brief brush of lips. "Go, get some sleep. You've got another busy day ahead of you."  
  
"Yeah, I do, don't I." Aria pulled away reluctantly and turned away before she changed her mind. Once she was back outside in the corridor she could breathe more easily. She didn't pause or hesitate as she hurried to her quarters, wanting to stop her mind from spinning and fighting the urge to turn around and go back.   
  
~***~  
  
"I don't believe it!"  
  
"What don't you believe, Morningstar?"  
  
"That they actually parted on such good terms! Those two are so wrapped up in one another they should be keeping that entire ship awake with their screams right now!"  
  
"Aria remembers her teachings an Luke respects her for them." The Father smiled as he gazed down. "They are good and loyal servants."  
  
"They are young, hot-blooded animals who should be answering the call of nature to procreate."  
  
"And thus is found the reason you are always wrong, Fallen One. You underestimate My children by equating them with animals."  
  
Lucifer gave one last snarl before he turned away and stormed from God's work room. Let the little tart think she has won a great battle against sin by fighting her baser instincts to fall into Skywalker's bed. He could withstand this one setback because there was something else that was just as useful. The girl just had to throw herself into her new life and meet the challenge head on.  
  
And by doing so she had done something that his tools in this particular little galaxy would take notice of.  
  
~***~  
  
Aria existed her 'fresher, now clean and a bit calmer, to retire. She had just fallen face down across her bed when the PC across the room clicked to life and beeped.   
  
"Go away."  
  
The PC chimed again.  
  
"I'm not in the mood."  
  
"YOU'VE GOT MAIL!"  
  
Ari snarled and looked up. She huffed as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and got up to cross the room and sit down before the PC. "What?"  
  
The cursor moved across the screen. "I am most pleased."  
  
"I'm glad one of us is. Do you realize how great a guy he is? And now he just might dump me to go after someone else."  
  
The screen cleared and new words formed. "If he does that, then he is not all that you believe him to be. A good man, a true man, will still be with you on the morrow."  
  
"Now you sound like a parent."  
  
"I am everyone's parent."  
  
She had to grin at that. "Yeah, I guess you are." She sighed and pulled her knees up into her chin. "These laws of yours are hard, by the way."  
  
"Is it asking so much of you?"  
  
She pondered this for a long moment, then shook her head. "No, I suppose not. Not in the greater scheme of things. I guess they're more annoying than hard." She stretched. "So to what do I owe the privilege of the chat time?"  
  
"Just to say that I am most pleased. Although you could be a bit less irreverent."  
  
"I guess I could, but I'm not very happy right now. I will admit that I would have rather stayed with Luke."  
  
"My law is that you know no man without benefit of marriage."  
  
"Which is why I'm here talking to You rather than there snuggling up to him. I remembered the rules... eventually. It would be easier if I had a copy of the Bible."  
  
"And whose fault is it that you do not? How many copies have you been given in your life?"  
  
Aria felt the back of her neck grow hot. "All right, You've got me there. I should have put a few of them in my luggage when I left for school, but I didn't believe in You then."  
  
"And now you do. You know the teachings, you know the laws. Perhaps your memory is not perfect, but you remember the spirit of them. Where have I ever said that My messengers must know the scriptures by heart? Moses was raised as a prince of Egypt and I chose him to work My wonders. Saul was among those who persecuted My people, and he became one of My most devoted servants. And You, who once did not believe in Me, will spread My teachings."  
  
"Oh... oh we've got to talk about that one. I'm don't think I'm the right kind of person to be a prophet or evangelist."  
  
"Did I say you were to be My prophet? There are many ways to teach. You will know your path when it is before you."  
  
"Can't You just tell me?"  
  
"Where is the fun in that?"  
  
"Oh great, Your sense of humor rears its head again."  
  
The PC screen flickered as though the machine was laughing. "My sense of humor is always here. Sadly, you do not always understand the punchline."  
  
Ari was about to suggest to God that He go and make another duck-billed platypus, but the PC switched off. She settled instead for sticking her tongue out at the now blank screen before heading back to bed.  
  
~***~  
  
"You will have to make your move soon, before they can ferret out who you are. If you are to get off this ship alive, you will have to move soon."  
  
The man in his narrow bunk tossed fitfully in his sleep, unaware of the shadow that crouched over his bed. The specter smiled as it continued its whisperings, murmurs that only the man his message was directed to could hear.   
  
"You will move soon, but first you will secure one final piece of information for your officers. You cannot find the files for the new encryption code, so you will take the files on the one who writes it. Take her identity to the Empire, let them know who their newest enemy by her face and by her name. Lord Vader will reward you for bringing news of her to him. You will finally have leverage needed to elevate you above your own enemies within the ranks of the fleet."  
  
The man murmured in his sleep, but ceased his tossing. A smile flitted at the corners of his mouth as he drifted back into peaceful slumber.  
  
~***~  
  
Luke awoke with a jerk, his body wreaked with chills. The unwholesome presence of the Dark Side was something he had not truly felt since he had been on the Death Star and within fifty feet of Darth Vader. Then he had not known it for what it was, but now that he had more practice and knowledge of the Force, he could identify it with ease.   
  
Unfortunately, just as soon as he had felt it, the presence was gone. Lying on his bed he tried to replay the brief sensation in his mind, attempting to determine just what had been the focus. Although he was well aware there were Dark Siders wanting to get their hands on him, he knew he had not been the focus.   
  
Ari.  
  
Luke sat up on his bed and concentrated on reaching out through the Force. His thoughts drifted to the small officers quarters on the other end of the corridor, or rather to the young woman inside them. Relief poured over him when felt her sleeping peacefully and unharmed. With greater ease he reclined back against his pillows and stared up at his dark ceiling. In the morning he would need to talk with security about keeping a closer eye on her. Ben told him to trust his instincts, and right now his instincts were telling him that someone was about to make his girl a target.  



	9. The Cat's Out of the Bag

Plaything of the Gods:  
The Cat's Out of the Bag  
  
  
"No one told me that I'd have to go ship hopping."  
  
"It's your baby. Don't you want to to make sure that it gets done properly?"  
  
Aria was pointedly not sitting up front, preferring the interior of the Falcon. She and Yaesa were currently going from ship to ship to install the completed decoders. Yaesa, at the moment, was playing some game that was a lot like chess, only with holographic pieces, against Chewie while she studied the ship schematics of The Protector to decide where they were going to put the next one. "I suppose so. I'll just be glad when this is all over. I didn't fully realize how big a job this was going to be when we started."  
  
Chewie grumbled as Yaesa claimed another of his pieces. The Bothan leaned back in her seat to await the Wookie's next move. "And it is almost over. Security will be making a move against our little spy soon."  
  
Han's interest was peaked. "They figured out who it is?"  
  
"They've narrowed it down to the galley." Aria tapped a spot on the schematics to mark her choice.  
  
"The galley?"  
  
"The galley. They were to begin questioning after we left with the decoders. With any luck, by the time we get back to our own ship he or she will be in the brig."  
  
"About time. All the mistrust and accusations being bandied about Fleet was seriously damaging moral. There were even questions about me." Han sounded put upon, as though not able to understand why anyone would mistrust a smuggler. Ari had to smile about it.  
  
"Well, the majority of it will be behind us soon enough."  
  
~***~  
  
Corporal Hess hurried to the side of his CO. "Sir, we still haven't been able to locate Kilman Jace, sir."  
  
"The scanning crews having found him?"  
  
"No, sir."  
  
"What a time for Rogue Squadron be on loan." The Commander glared at nothing in particular as he considered their next option. While he was standing there a sound like something exploding. "That sounded like it came from outside the ship." He clicked on his com link. "Bridge, what's going on out there?"  
  
"Trouble with the patrol. One of the fighters has been lost."  
  
A second later another voice came over the link. "Sir, we found one of the pilots from Blue Squadron. He's been killed, sir."  
  
The rest of Blue Squadron was scrambled to try and bring back the other patrol fighter, now suspected to be under control of the spy, but Hess had a good head start on them and was long gone before they could get out of the hangar."  
  
~***~  
  
"My Lord Vader, Major Hessil has arrived for his debriefing."   
  
"Tell Admiral Ozzel not to begin until I have joined you, Piett."  
  
Captain Piett nodded. "Yes, My Lord."  
  
Upon learning that Major Hessil had been forced to abandon his position as a spy within the Rebel forces, Vader had asked that he be sent to the Executor for a full debriefing. The ship Hessil had been part of was the same one his son was usually part of, that much he knew for certain. Though it was unlikely the spy had any significant information on Luke, he might still have something that would prove useful.   
  
The debriefing was to take place in a secure conference room. Himself, Piett, Ozzel and Hessil. A droid was present to record the proceedings. Hessil, now that he was back on an Imperial ship and in his Imperial uniform, looked the very model of an Imperial officer. It was difficult for a slicer who signed up mainly to keep from going to prison to make it in the military, but Hessil had applied himself with a passion so that he was able to move upwards through the ranks. He still had his enemies, those who sneered at him and considered him a petty criminal who had overstepped his boundaries. His response to their charges was to do his job and do it outstandingly.  
  
The bulk of the debriefing had only served to confirm their suspicions. The Rebels were very well trained and well equipped. As with the schism that had resulted in the creation of the Empire, worlds were backing the Alliance in its hope to overthrow Palpatine. Now they had a better idea of just how many ships and fighters the Rebel fleet was made of, and it was quite larger than they had previously thought. Their numbers were helped by the fact that they welcomed non-humans into their ranks, unlike the Imperial military which discouraged it save for rare cases. They had many of the same weapons, with the exception of a few things that had been developed for them by their allies.   
  
Vader knew, however, that the thing that made the Rebels even more dangerous was that they had a sense of purpose. The Rebels truly believed in what they were doing. They would keep fighting until they had nothing left to fight with or for. Those who thought they could beat the Rebellion into submission were fooling themselves.   
  
"We will need to get a new source inside the Rebel fleet if we are to continue to keep up to date with their codes."  
  
"That would be a futile effort, Admiral."  
  
"Excuse me, Major?"  
  
Hessil inserted a data crystal into the reader. A personnel file on an unfamiliar woman appeared on the large viewer built into the wall. "This is Aria St. Claire. It took some time to gather information on her. She arrived a little less than a year before my infiltration into the fleet."  
  
"What does this... woman... have to do with security codes?" Ozzel was not a fan of women in military positions. Having been married to a woman like Padme, Vader knew better than to discount them out of hand.   
  
"The Rebels have a new encryption code named 'Star Writer'. Lieutenant St. Claire is the one who thought of it and developed it. The most interesting thing about the Lieutenant is that she is not a citizen of the Empire."  
  
Vader studied the holo-photo of the woman. "Explain, Major."  
  
"From what I could gather from the files, shortly after the Battle over Yavin there was a disturbance aboard one of the Alliance ships. At first the Rebellion believed it was an attack using some new weapon belonging to the Empire. However, as a result of this disturbance, St. Claire came to be with the fleet. From what can be ascertained, she is most likely from an unknown planet, if not an entirely unknown galaxy. Although she could speak Basic, her own written language was entirely different. An interrogation of the woman while under sedation gave evidence that her world is just now developing the ability to leave their own atmosphere and are about one to two centuries out from being truly space faring."  
  
"Another galaxy? Impossible!." Ozzle brushed the idea aside.   
  
"Impossible as it sounds, Admiral, it is the most likely answer."  
  
Piett leaned forward. "How does this tie in with the new encryption she's developed?"  
  
"Star Writer uses her own written language, something that only she knows. If the few rumors I could garner are to be trusted, it could possibly include one or two other written languages from her own world. My attempts to secure the data files on the languages themselves were unsuccessful. Security was tight. No one who wasn't part of the team working on the code was allowed near the terminals being used, and any terminal containing the code was not allowed to be connected to the ship network."  
  
"Are we sure these are new and unknown languages?"  
  
"That was the basis of their use, Captain Piett."  
  
Piett leaned back in his seat. "Even if we intercepted the transmission, our computers couldn't begin to read it. It would be worthless."   
  
Ozzel was finally taking this seriously. They were going to lose their advantage over the Rebellion. Vader pondered this information closely. "Has she found any close friends since her arrival? Are there any possible relationships that can be used against her?"  
  
"She has a few friends, mostly Rebel pilots. There's also a female repair tech. However, the most interesting connection is that between herself and Commander Luke Skywalker."  
  
"Skywalker?"   
  
"Yes, My Lord. The pair are known to be growing increasingly closer to one another, most likely in a... romantic sense."  
  
A connection to his son! Was Luke likely to repeat his father's mistake by allowing himself to become too close to someone else? Ozzel and Piett did not find this news as interesting as he did, of course, but that was to be expected considering that they did not realize who Skywalker truly was. However, a lover would be someone that may make his son's spirit more malleable. The rest of the briefing was far less interesting to the Dark Lord as the corners of his mouth stretched into a painful smile under his mask.  
  
~***~  
  
"You look awfully pleased."  
  
"I should be, or rather your dear Lieutenant St. Claire should be." Leia poured glasses of wine for the both of them. L:uke and the rest of Rogue Squadron had just completed a mission and had met up with The Reliant before returning to their own ship. Leia had taken this chance to see her friend again. "Thanks to her Star Writer code our transmissions have been safe enough that we've managed to outrun the Empire for the time being. Long enough that Command is going to dare setting up a base again."  
  
"That's good news. We could use some."  
  
Leia sighed. "Luke, you can't keep beating yourself up over what happened. He had us all fooled."  
  
"I should have been able to sense him, Leia. He killed Vass for his fighter and then destroyed Teap's fighter while pretending to fly patrol so he could make his get away. Blue Squadron lost two good men and I should have been able to prevent it."  
  
"Luke..." Leia sat down, a frown on her face. "Luke, I think we have been asking too much of you."  
  
"What?"  
  
"The Alliance, we've been asking too much of you. Too much for one man to do, even one as extraordinary as you." Luke was about to protest but Leia held him off by raising one hand. "Hear me out. You weren't even part of the Alliance when you first came to us, just a young man from Tatooine that had found himself thrust out onto a path he hadn't expected. We needed every man who could fly a fighter up in the air, so we put you in one, and to everyone's surprise you were the one who brought down the Death Star. We've thrust you out into the spotlight, never let anyone forget that you were our hero... I'm afraid that we have made you feel that you have to always be right."  
  
"Leia..."  
  
"No, Luke, don't. You may be the closest thing to a Jedi Knight that the Alliance has, but you're still a man. In the days of the Republic there wasn't just one Jedi, there were hundreds, sometimes thousands. The oldest and wisest made up the Council and helped to guide everyone. You are one man, and I think it's time we started to allow you to live like one man again. You are not at fault here. Jace, or whoever he was, was just one spy among what is doubtless many. This one kept us on the run for a long time and now we're finally getting back to what passes for normalcy. That Vass and Teap were lost because of him is heartbreaking, but no one who has joined the Alliance is under the belief that they're invincible."  
  
"I know that, but it doesn't make it any easier."  
  
"It's not supposed to. It's only supposed to remind you of the hard facts."  
  
Luke fell back into his seat and ran a hand through his hair. "I have been working myself up, I know, it's just..."  
  
"Just what?"  
  
"Leia, I did feel something. It was just once and it was too brief for me to lock onto it, but I felt something."  
  
Her brow furrowed as she shifted her position. "Like what?"  
  
"One night, after I'd fallen asleep, I felt something... dark... malevolent. It was like feeling that presence that leads Ari, only completely opposite in nature."  
  
"But it wasn't?"  
  
"No, it was a completely different personality, as different as you are from me. And at least part of that malevolence was directed toward Ari."  
  
"You think she's in some kind of danger."  
  
"I know she is, Leia. Jace may not have been able to get his hands on the code or one of the decoders, but it wouldn't have taken much to learn who was behind it. The Empire will be after her for that alone. But if she's dealing with a Dark Side presence that is as massive as this Deity of hers, the Imps will be the least of her troubles."  
  
"What do you suggest?"  
  
"I don't know. I'm going to talk to her about it, of course. She needs to know, or maybe she can shed some light on what it is. But after that, I just don't know."  
  
Leia couldn't help but smile. "Itching to play the valiant prince and ride off to save your lady love?"  
  
"You've been talking to Han again."  
  
"Don't glare at me like that. I happen to have become very fond of Aria and I want to know what your intentions are."  
  
Luke blinked and looked at his friend. "You want to know what?"  
  
"Someone has to look out for her. She's here all by herself, away from her family. I can't run the risk of some baby-faced fighter pilot with a million credit smile stringing her along."  
  
Luke quirked a brow at her before throwing his napkin at her. "Very funny."  
  
Leia bit off a giggle as she deflected the rather useless missile. "I'm dead serious. I hear all the rumors, too. I want to know the facts."  
  
"The facts?"  
  
"All the facts. Just how serious is this?" Luke blushed as he twirled his glass. "That serious, huh? Do I need to be shopping for wedding clothes?"  
  
"I have to ask her first... and I'm not all that sure now's the right time."  
  
"Not the right time or not the right person?"  
  
"Not the right time. Part of me thinks 'tomorrow could be my last' and I want make sure that I get to spend at least part of it with Ari. Then another part of me thinks 'tomorrow could be my last' and I think that it would be the worst act of selfishness to leave her a widow."  
  
"Ah, those feelings. A lot of people in your place have those feelings. I imagine it's always like that in war."  
  
"What do you think I should do?"  
  
"It isn't for me to say. It's up to you and Ari, but don't forget to include her in this decision as well. You can sense emotions, so you should know if she feels the same way."  
  
"I know, but I'm also afraid she might say 'no'."  
  
"Then she says 'no' and the two of you take a step back and try coming at it from a different angle." Leia shook her head slightly at her friend. "Luke, my father always told me that there's nothing in this life worth having if it isn't something you've worked for or taken a risk to get. Now, is she something worth taking a risk for?"  
  
Luke blinked, then smiled. "Definitely."  
  
"Then you have all the answer you need."  
  
  
  



	10. Point Zero Two

The structure was a place filled with the Force, the light side of the Force. Vader normally wouldn't bother with such a place; he would just destroy it, but something told him that would be a foolish move.

The building was a temple. He didn't need the native inhabitants holding it in reverence to know that much. The structure was alive. Not just alive with the Force, but truly alive. The walls were made from trunks of trees that had grown up and close together. Currently he was seated on what was a root that had grown up from the ground, traveled sideways about ten feet, and then grown back down so that it had formed a bench, just like twenty-three others within the main chamber. The branches of the trees had all grown up and at an angle towards the center point above the structure to form a ceiling, their mixture of emerald and scarlet leaves draping together to resemble stained glass, much like the multi-colored petals of blossoms from creeping vines that had gone up to fill in the gaps between forks in the upper parts of the trees.

At the front of the structure was a place where a series of large, flat stones seemed to have risen from the ground to form a platform, the center of which was taken by a basin of rocks where a fresh spring bubbled from it's source deep under the crust of the planet. The techs did not have to test it for him to know that the water was pure and cool. A place like this would not have had tainted water.

"It's… it's extraordinary. Absolutely beautiful." Captain Piett was standing in the aisle between the two rows of living benches, turning around to stare in wonder at the temple. "The Llamarians are a primitive culture. How could they have done this?"

"They did not, Piett. The Force sculpted this place."

Piett looked at the Dark Lord. For once in his life, he was ready to believe that it was true. He was so stunned by the concept that he did not realize that one of the Llamarian elders had come into the temple until she clicked her beak. "The Divine made this place, to bless the union of two souls."

Vader looked over his shoulder before standing. "A union?"

Piett stepped aside, coming to 'parade rest' as he observed the conversation between Lord Vader and the alien without looking as though he were observing. The Llamarians were a bipedal race that had evolved from avian creatures. They were still covered in soft, downy feathers in various shades of blue and cream, but they had lost most of their wings, leaving them with a fringe of long feathers that ran the length of their arms. A deeply religious society, they worshipped the Divine, an entity they credited with the creation of all things in the universe.

"Yes, a union. The humans who were here for a time, one of their warriors wished to be husband to one of their females. He asked her for this honor during our harvest festival. We elders insisted that she wait the three days for the Divine to send her a sign that the warrior was her intended mate, as is our way." The elder gave a rapturous gaze at the temple. "As the sun set, we heard a terrifying sound like that of ground cracking apart. All rushed out to see what was happening, and we witnessed this place being raised by an unseen hand from the very ground. The Divine shaped it with His own hand, so that His loyal daughter would have a holy place in which to bind her soul with her warrior."

"A marriage?" Piett looked around the structure in awe. "All this for a wedding?" Vader walked past the native to stand in the exact center of the temple. "To believe that a Divine entity built something like this for the wedding of one woman."

"It is Skywalker."

"My Lord?"

Vader turned back around to look at his subordinate. "The Force built this place, Piett. The Llamarians do not lie; it is an unforgivable sin in their eyes. If they say that this place was built in a single night, then it is so. The Force has the power to do such things. The 'warrior' in question is Skywalker. I can sense it."

Piett looked a bit uncomfortable. "And the woman?"

Vader started walking towards the exit, Piett hurrying to keep up. "Considering what our operatives have told us, I would be surprised if it were anyone other than Aria St. Claire. Change the instructions on her bounty and double the price. I want her brought to me upon capture, alive and unharmed. Make certain that it is clear to everyone that any excessive injuries or bruising will detract from the price and I will pay nothing if she is dead. She should prove far easier to capture than her husband."

"And the planet, My Lord?"

Vader stopped and looked back at the temple. "Leave it as we found it."

"My Lord?"

"The Force constructed that building overnight from the very plant life on this world. I know enough of the Force to know that terrible things would befall any who sought to lay harm to this planet or its people. We leave it as we found it."

"Yes, My Lord."

Ari gave a moan and snuggled down more deeply into the covers. "I don' wanna."

"Ari, get up."

"No. You get in here with me."

Luke tucked his undershirt in before grabbing his pillow and thwacking his wife soundly. "You've got work to do. Get up and do it."

"But it's _cold_ out there!" Her voice was muffled from under the blankets.

"It's Hoth. It's supposed to be cold out there." Still, he reached over to the small heater in their room and picked up the folded cloth there, tugged up the end of the covers of their bed and slipped the bundle onto Ari's feet. "Now get dressed."

"Oh! You warmed them up for me!" The bed was a sudden flurry of movement. "You're the best hubby ever!"

"Just remember that the next time you get angry with me."

"I hardly ever get angry with you."

He was still amazed at how she could get dressed while still under the blankets, but she was emerging, fully clothed, as he was fastening his jacket. All she had left to do was to put on her boots. "Han and I are going to helping out with the patrols today."

"You're going _out_ in that? You've lost what's left of your mind, haven't you." She laced up her boots and stood up.

"Just doing my part. What are you going to be doing today?"

"Working on the coding boxes. The Imps still haven't managed to crack Star Writer, but they have managed to lay their hands on at least one of the boxes we're using now. The self-destruct should have fried most of the circuits, but it still doesn't hurt to keep improving on the models. I like to call it 'job security'."

"So you're going to stay inside where it's relatively warm why I go tramping about on a taun-taun. At least one of us should be comfortable."

"Aww… poor baby." Ari wrapped her arms about him and kissed him soundly. "Sure you don't wanna play hookie?"

"What's 'hookie'?"

"It's… ah, well… it's… never mind." She gave him another brief kiss. "Go to work." They exchanged another kiss before Luke grabbed his headgear and left the room, but not before she got in one last playful swat to his behind. The door had slid shut when she heard her trusty desktop whir to life. "Dude, he's just outside. He's gonna sense you."

The screen cleared to black before words started to form across it. _"This is a private conversation. You'll have an easier time of it without him asking you a lot of questions."_

"Oh, that doesn't sound good." She sat down in the chair at her desk. "What is it? I knew this was coming sooner or later… just… please… no parting the Red Sea or anything like that."

"No, I am not going to ask you to part the Red Sea. I think I will stick with my initial choice of Moses for that task."

"Just what I was thinking. Excellent choice. I understand he has experience in that sort of thing."

"At the moment he's a spoiled five-year-old living in an Egyptian palace, but I sense a great deal of potential in him. Right now, however, I want to discuss something with you."

"Here it comes. Lay it on me."

"I have a task for Luke."

Ari blinked and looked at the screen. Yep, that's what it said. "Then shouldn't you be discussing this with him?"

"A messenger will approach Luke. What I need from you is for you to let him have the freedom to complete the task."

She frowned. "Okay, lost here. Why would I be stupid enough to stand in the way of one of Your tasks?"

"Not intentionally, of course. However, you are about to learn something that could make him choose not to complete the task."

"What am I going to learn?"

"Patience. You do not have long to wait. You will know when the moment is upon you. I only ask that you do not stand in the way of his completing My task."

Ari sighed. "You know, this is cryptic beyond annoying, even for You."

"Question not. I only ask that you obey."

"Yeah, and read Your mind while I'm at it." She rubbed her eyes. "And I was having such a happy wifey morning. Anything else You wanna drop on me?"

"Just one more thing. Have Faith and know that I am always with you."

Ari looked at the screen as it blinked off. "Do You have any idea how ominous that sounded?" The screen remained off. She sighed. "If it wasn't for the eternal damnation and brimstone I would be seriously looking for a new deity." She stuck her tongue out at the blank screen before getting up and heading out of her quarters.

The base on Hoth was a brilliant move. Who in their right mind would expect the Alliance to put their base on this frozen, deserted rock where snow blindness was a way of life? It was the last place anyone would look for them. The corridors had been carved through centuries of packed ice and snow, which did act as insulation for the most part… but it was still frigid. It just wasn't as frigid inside the 'snow castle' as it was outside.

She punched in her security code while giving a goofy smile to the door guards and walked in. "You guys better be working in here."

The 'day team' was now four people. Dece was still with her, but now that she was concentrating on hardware rather than software, she had snagged two techs that had passed her 'gut feeling' test. Together, the four of them had designed what was a smaller version of the boxes already in use, something that would be easier to hide within the ship. The trouble was that it tended to run a bit hot and they were having trouble keeping the CPU cool so the unit didn't crash.

Dece grinned up and lifted his safety glasses. "Slaving away, Boss. Hoping that soon you'll let us take a break so we can lock the doors and play those video games of yours while pretending to be working."

"Talk to me after we get this puppy up and running. I might be more pliable on such issues, then." She grabbed a pair of glasses and slipped them on. "Any luck with that new gel you were playing with?"

"It would work if we made the overall unit about ten percent bigger. We need more of it." Dece handed her one of the packs they had been working with. "That would leave us with a lot of empty space, but it would work."

"What about that idea we had about just filling the entire box with the gel and making sure it was sealed tight?"

"Keeps it cool, but the gel smothers the self-destruct."

"Yeah, that kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it." She frowned, worrying over the puzzle of it. "Anyone else got any ideas?" She looked up at her other two-team mates, trying to keep her tone bright, but there was something wrong. "Why are you two spinning?"

She was next aware of someone wiping her face with something cool and damp. She thought she heard Leia calling her name, but that couldn't be. Leia never came to cryptography. Still, when she opened her eyes, she was looking at Leia. She was not, however, in cryptography. "How did I get here?"

"Your team brought you here after you passed out."

"I didn't pass out."

"You did."

"I'd remember it if I passed out."

"That is why it's called 'passing out'." Leia helped her into a sitting position. "According to the medical droids, you and Luke have managed to beat the odds."

"What, for not driving everyone insane, yet?" She felt her stomach give a little twist. Apparently skipping breakfast had not been the smart thing to do. "What did we do?"

Leia gave a glance to the medical droid before giving Ari a strained smile. "According to the tests, you're a little pregnant."

She felt a curious numbness between her ears. What exactly was 'pi' again?" "No I'm not."

"Actually, you are."

"I can't be. I get the injection, just like all the girls."

"Which is ninety-nine-point-nine-eight percent effective, but there is still that point-zero-two percent chance that… it… won't work."

This could not be happening. Not now. Not in the middle of all this chaos. "Oh, You suck."

"What?"

Ari blinked and shook her head. "No, not you." She swallowed. "Uhm… is he… she… am I healthy?"

Leia smiled and nodded. "Everything looks good. You're fine."

"Good. That's… good. Uhm… do you think the higher ups would be totally hacked off if I just blew off the rest of the day?"

"No. In fact, I insisted. And you need to eat. No one can remember seeing you at chow this morning."

"Ah, great… I work with a bunch of snitches." She got off the table. "I'll… just go now. Bye."

She tried not to break into a run on her way back to the quarters she shared with her husband of all of six months. She locked the door behind her and punched the button on her desktop screen. "All right! Explain Yourself!"

There was no answer, of course. She gave the side of the monitor a futile smack on the side. "Answer me! What are You thinking? I've got a price on my head. Luke's got a price on his head. There are people trying to kill us every time we turn around. Not to mention that I'm G… only You know how far from home. How could You possibly think now would be a good time to have a baby!"

The screen remained blank. She made a sound that was halfway between a sigh and a sob as she threw herself down on the bed. "Why are You doing this to me? Was I really that bad of a person before? I can't deal with this right now."

She lay there until she fell asleep. In her dreams she was back in Sweet Bowl, enjoying a nice round of bickering with her brothers in front of the fireplace in the living room as her father trounced them all at Monopoly. David had grabbed her in a headlock and started knocking on her skull, which sounded oddly hollow and metallic. She opened her eyes, still halfway caught in the dream. It took her a bit before she realized that the knocking was actually at her door.

Ari got up; wincing as she realized the throbbing in her head was very real. Sleeping too much appeared to have given her the makings of a headache. Stumbling across the room, she opened the door and opened it. Leia was waiting outside, her expression strained. "What's happened?"

Leia stepped into the room, shutting the door behind her. "Ari… something's happened. Han came back from patrol, but Luke was unaccounted for and he went back out to find him. Now… both of them are unaccounted for. We waited as long as we could… but we had to close the shield doors after the sun went down."

"Close the… Leia… they'll freeze." Her knees could no longer support her weight. She reached blindly for her chair. Luckily, Leia helped her find it. "No one can live out there. Even the taun-tauns head for caves when the temperature drops. We need to get out there!"

Leia shook her head. "Ari… Ari we can't. They're still having trouble refitting the speeders, but there are going to work through the night to get them running."

"I can't… I can't do this right now. I can't… deal with this right now. I just got him!" Her head was pounding even harder and her stomach felt as though it was going to turn itself wrong side out. She folded over, her arms wrapping about her legs. "Oh, God… don't do this. Please don't do this."

Leia put her arms about Aria the best that she could with the other woman being in the position she was. "Ari, this is Han and Luke we're talking about. If anyone can come through this, they can. The speeders will go out in the morning and they'll be found, with Han cracking some smart aleck comment."

Ari didn't hear her. She was only interested in speaking to one person at the moment, and she was hoping with everything in her that He answered. "Please… please don't take him from me." She thought she may be crying… but she couldn't be for certain.


	11. Bug Out

Leia stayed with her through the night, though neither of them got any sleep. Although everyone knew it, Leia would never admit that she had feelings beyond friendship for Han; she was just too stubborn to admit it to anyone, including herself. Ari, on the other hand, was obviously more than a friend to Luke. There were plenty of witnesses to that. Both women sat in the quarters Ari shared with her husband, rarely speaking and trying not to go insane.

When morning came, they moved themselves to Command so that they could monitor the transmissions from Rogue Squadron as they used the newly modified speeders to search for Luke and Han. Apparently the thought of their friends being out in the cold of Hoth had been more than enough to break through whatever had been blocking the techs from figuring out how to make the refit work.

Ari was chewing on her nails. She hadn't been a nail biter since she was eight, not after her mother had started putting bitter apple on them. Thankfully, none of the higher-ranking officers present bothered to try and correct her behavior. She must have really been looking scary and two steps away from total fruitcake. Someone had brought her something that resembled Malt-o-Meal; only it didn't thicken on standing. It was in a mug that had been placed in her hands, but she hadn't had more than a single swallow. Part of her knew that she should try to eat something, but the rest of her just couldn't do it.

The updates from Rogue Squadron seemed to be static in the background. Her mind was spinning so fast she couldn't have managed an intelligible sentence if it had been asked of her. Her thoughts would jump from how to get the new coder design to work to where her husband was to what she could do to avoid stretch marks as her body made room for her little passenger. At times all the thoughts meshed into one, incomprehensible mess that not even she understood. She kept her eyes trained on the screens, hoping that one would start scrolling another message from God, some reassurance that everything would be all right. Nothing came, however. The Almighty seemed to be sticking to His silence.

"This is Rouge Two. I found them. Repeat, I found them."

The cheers that erupted throughout Command yanked her back into the present. She blinked, hardly able to believe her ears as Leia hugged her tightly. The following moments were pure chaos. Yes, they were alive. Han was a bit cold, but healthy. Luke was injured, but they would not know how badly until he was in Medical. She didn't remember the trip from Command to Medical, but she got there just the same, kept out of the way until Luke could be patched up and submerged into the Bacta tank. Only then was she allowed to move closer.

He looked like he had been run through a meat grinder. Someone had said there was blood on his clothing when they had taken it off of him and there were scratches on his face where something had clawed him. Ari put her hands on the surface of the tank, as if she thought she could reach through it to touch him. He remained motionless except for the gentle movement of his limbs and hair in the current of the healing fluid. The most important things were that he was alive and he would heal.

Ari rested her head against the cool surface of the tank. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, but for what?"

She looked around to see Han. The pilot was looking past her at his friend. "Oh, I was just… praying." She smiled. "How ya doing?"

"Better than the Kid, here." Han peered through the Bacta at Luke. "He was a mess when I found him. Kept talking about that old crackpot, Ben Kenobi, and someone named 'Yoda'. He ever mention him to you?"

Ari frowned, shaking her head. "No, Luke's never mentioned a Yoda to me. Why? What did he say about him?"

Han shrugged. "Nothing intelligible. Just kept repeating Ben, Yoda and something about the Dagobah system."

"Where's that?"

"Back end of the galaxy. Nothing really there, just one habitable planet if you don't mind living in a swamp. Don't even know where he would have heard the name." Solo turned around and gave her an appraising look. "You look like hell."

"Gee, thanks."

"Think nothing of it." He put his hands in his pockets. "So… not to sound totally selfish or anything, but…"

"She didn't get a wink of sleep all night. She stayed up to comfort me between bouts of threatening great bodily harm to you if you survived."

Han perked up. "Really? I knew she loves me."

"Yeah, well, don't let it go to your head. I heard some of her ideas on how to do the 'bodily harm' part. She's quite inventive for a well-bred lady."

"Oh." His smile faded a bit. "So… how's married life treating you?"

"With the exception of my husband being roughed up by a giant snow beast… it's good." She wanted to tell him about the baby, but held it back behind her teeth. She shouldn't tell Han before she told Luke. "I'm glad to see that you came through last night relatively unscathed."

"Just a bit frozen around the edges, but the droids assure me I'll be usual, charming self again, soon." Han gave her a slight smile before reaching out to pull her into a hug. "He's alive, Ari. He's gonna be all right."

She hugged him back. "Thanks for going after him, Han. I've never been so frightened."

"Not even of open space?"

She sniffed and giggled at the same time. "Hey, I'm getting better with the window thing. Now I just have to work on my fear of hangars." The door opened, allowing Leia to enter. She hesitated at the sight of Ari and Han, and then looked to where Luke was still suspended in the Bacta tank. They removed him when he had regained consciousness. Ari was asked to keep back as they cleaned him off and put him in a recovery area, but after that she was allowed all the time she needed with him.

"You had me scared out of my wits."

Luke gave her a slight smile. "I wouldn't leave you. I'm still trying to get used to this married business." He hurt, but the pain meant he was alive. "You've been crying."

Ari wiped at her face with some amount of irritation. "Gee, I wonder why." She smiled at him. He was alive and safe. "Han said you were a bit out of it when he found you."

"Yeah, I was." Luke gave a glance at the closed door before shifting to a semi-seated position. "I saw Ben."

Ari blinked. "I thought you said he was dead, that you saw that Vader guy kill him."

"I did. He was, but he was able to reach me through the Force."

"Honey, that thing hit you pretty hard. Are you certain that…"

"You have an omniscient Deity who contacts you through your computer. Why can't the Force allow Ben to speak to me even though he's dead?"

"Okay, I'm sorry. Go ahead. What did Ben say?"

Luke gave another glance towards the closed door. He kept his voice pitched low so as not to be overheard by anyone outside. "He said that I need to go to Dagobah, to study under a Jedi Master in hiding there. It's someone named 'Yoda', he trained Ben."

He looked excited, almost breathless. Ari could understand why. Luke was frustrated by how little progress he had made on his own. Ari and some of her team had toyed with the idea of attempting to slice into Vader's personal mainframe in his residence on Courascant to see if he was hiding any 'illegal' Jedi training information from his old days. In the end, however, it had been decided that slicing any system connected to Vader was too high a risk.

"When will you be going?"

"As soon as I get back in a fighter." He smiled at her, placing a hand on her cheek. "I'd rather not leave you, you know that. But I need to finish my training if I'm going to be able to defeat Vader and the Emperor."

Yes, he needed to do this. He needed to go. It would be simple to stop him. 'Honey, I'm pregnant.' 'We're going to be parents.' Even the ever corny, 'I'm with child.' Any of them would have stopped him from flying off and he'd never leave her side again. However, the last request from Him had been to let Luke have the freedom to complete His task.

Ari held her good news firmly behind her teeth and forced a smile. "You do want to go, I know you. But it's all right."

Luke frowned. "Ari? Is something wrong? If you don't want me to go, just say so."

She shook her head. "No, you need to go. You need to do this." She took his hand and kissed it. "I'll be waiting for you when you get back." She leaned forward and kissed him. "You need to rest. I'll swing by with someone to eat later." Luke held onto her hand to keep her from running off without another kiss before watching her as she left.

Ari smiled at Han and Chewie as she passed them on her way out of medical. They were, no doubt, stopping by to check up on Luke. She managed to hold it together until she was in her own quarters and the door shut behind her. Then she let herself start to cry. It wasn't fair. How was she supposed to let him fly off and not tell him about the baby? This whole deal sucked… any way you turned it.

She sat down on the bed and pulled one of the pillows to her. This was going to be the hardest thing she'd ever done.

* * *

She was on her way out to grab some food from the galley to take to Luke when Dece came running up to her. "Ma'am, we're evacuating the base. All teams are supposed to get their gear packed and ready." 

"Evacuating? Why?"

"They found an Imperial probe droid. We're getting out of here before the fleet shows up."

"Oh, of all the rotten luck." Ari ran a hand through her hair. "Okay, let's get cracking. I want all protocols followed to the letter. Paranoia and security go hand in hand."

"The Crypts Team Motto! Hide in shadows and stab them in the back! No, wait, that's black ops. Faster is better! No… no, that's the pilots."

Ari gave a sigh. "Move it, Soldier!" She gave him a light shove in the direction of Cryptology and followed along. Luke would be scrambling along with everyone else, probably not even in his recovery room any longer. The man was stubborn that way.

Breaking down their unit involved updating the backups before introducing a complicated program that would wipe out the 'hard drives'. A few select droids from various departments were each given an encrypted version of their files, but none would have the complete archive. They used everything but astromechs, which were far too likely to be destroyed in combat, but the tiny little floor scrubbers were able to hold a tightly bundled block of code and no one would ever think to look to them for secret information. It would take days to bring all the parts back together, and since there were three copies of each part, they were at less risk of losing something vital. Segmenting the data like this served the same purpose as not having Aria know the encryption codes in any of the three languages used, or letting those working with English know what the ones using Chinese up to, and vice versa. The Empire could capture a higher officer or data storage droid in her department and still not get enough to do them any good.

The last droid, this one a kitchen assistant, was given its bit of data and unplugged as the alarm sounded. Ari gritted her teeth, reminding herself not to swear. "Okay, get these droids to their ships. Is that the last of the info?"

Dece handed the little sweeper droid in his hands to one of the other team members to be herded along with the others. "That's all of it."

"Good. Pack up the better systems to take with us. Wipe whatever we can't pack. I don't want so much as a syllable falling into the wrong hands." She turned to start working on the new coding boxes. At the moment they were mostly empty husks, but to loose what they had so far could set them back months. She was placing them in the cargo case when a thought hit her. "Dece, this cooling gel we're looking into; does it combine badly with anything?"

"How so?"

"Well, if this stuff cancels out the heat used by the self-destruct to fry the box, maybe we can try a different method, like acid corrosion or something."

Dece sealed up two of their workstations. "Chemical instead of combustible. I'll have to look into it."

"Yeah, do that as soon as we get to a point we can unpack everything and get back to work." She sealed up the prototypes and placed them on the hover pad they were going to use to move the heavy items. "Right now, let's get this show on the road."

"Again with the strange sayings from another universe. You've got to stop doing that, boss."

"Shut up and work." Her com unit chimed. She reached for it out of reflex. "Skywalker, here."

The line crackled for a second before one of the engineers' voices came over. "Skywalker, we're cutting you short. Bring whatever you've got packed and do what you have to with the others. The Imps are coming in hot and heavy."

"Copy that. It's on its way." She cut off the link. "Get this stuff to the transport. I'll start the wipe code." She headed to one of the left behind systems as Dece and the other three remaining members of her team started moving the hover pads. The code was easy to initiate, but you had to have the right security override to start it. Only she and Dece had the right code on this shift. She started entering it in, station by station.

The com traffic was panicked and sharp. As she wiped the systems clean, she heard about the walkers and the fighters scrambling to slow them down. The generators were taken down the same time she had finished the last workstation and was heading out of the door. Their workroom was in the most remote part of the base, and everyone else had already cleared out. It took so much time to make certain the data was properly secured. The icy corridors seemed desolate in spite of the thundering sound of the artillery bombardment above.

She hurried through the corridors, her feet slipping now and again. Someone called out over the com system that the enemy had entered the base and she found herself hoping that the cases and droids had made it onto their transports. Lives depended on the code remaining unbroken.

She rounded a corner when the space before her collapsed. She barely skidded to a halt in time, looked to see if there was a way to climb over the debris, and grimaced when she saw that there wasn't. "Fine. That's not the only way to the transports." She turned the opposite direction and broke into a jog. It wasn't the only way, just the quickest way.

She moved as quickly as she could under the slick conditions. The com crackled to life again, this time with Solo's voice telling the transport that they were cut off. They were to go ahead and leave; he would get 'her' out on his ship. An uneasy feeling fluttered in her stomach and she knew that she couldn't let that transport leave without her. She fumbled for her com unit to tell them to wait, and lost her footing on the floor. Going as fast as she was, she could not stop herself as she slid at an angle to crash into a case that had been left behind. It opened as they both fell, letting various pieces of medical gear tumble out. A smooth, flat screen that would normally display vital signs landed before her. She moved to get back up when the screen, connected to nothing, started to flicker on. Ari paused, her attention focused.

"_Have Faith."_

"Oh, this can't be good." She made again to get up, but froze when someone shouted out. In her haste to get out, she had missed their approach.

"Halt! Don't move!"

Ari looked behind her to see a unit of Storm Troopers behind her. More footsteps from the other directly drew her attention that way, and another patrol came into view. "No, this is definitely not good."

"Hands were I can see them, Rebel!"

Ari moved slowly, raising her hands outwards, clearly unarmed. Her eyes fell to the screen again. It flicked and a new message appeared. "_I am with you."_ Then it went blank once more.


	12. Father Knows Best

Hessil ignored the rumblings from the other officers about the use of bounty hunters. Lord Vader had just sent out word to draw them to the Executor so that he could instruct them to go after the Millennium Falcon. What did they expect? Once again they had bungled what should have been a simple task and let Skywalker get away. Hessil did not understand why the dark lord wanted the rebel so badly, but only a fool would continue to fail in the task.

He remained standing at a terminal, watching names scroll by. Most of the ones who had been captured in the attack on Hoth were ground troops, buying time for the rest of the crew to get to their transports. Few of them were of any particular interest. He recognized some of the names of people he had direct contact with when pretending to be one of them, but few others. He let the names scroll past until one caught his eye. He stopped, scrolled back and selected the name of a woman listed as being Corellian.

* * *

"Hey, Princess."

Leia pulled herself out of her musings to look at Han. "I'm sorry. Did you say something?"

Han frowned. "Something the matter?"

She shook her head once. "I just have this uneasy feeling."

"About what?"

"I get the feeling that Ari didn't make it to the transports in time."

"Hey, it's just nerves. The Alliance wouldn't let her fall into enemy hands. She's too important to the cause. The constant updates and tweaking she and her team do to the encryption codes keep our secrets safe." He put his hands on her upper arms, rubbing them lightly. "She's fine. I'm sure of it."

"I still can't shake it. I guess I'm feeling overprotective now that she's pregnant."

Han blinked. "Pregnant? When did this happen?"

Leia smiled. "She found out when you and Luke were out on patrol, before he came up missing."

"That's great! It's about time things started looking up for those two." He smiled. "Luke and Ari would make great parents."

"I agree. What about us?"

"Uh…" He looked as though she had smacked him upside the head with the butt of a blaster.

"I mean what's our next move in getting out of here?"

"Oh! Oh yeah!" A look of relief crossed his face. "Well, with the hyper drive engines out, it will take us weeks or months to get someplace where we can fix them." He looked out of the window at the ships, one of which they were currently attached to, blending in with the rest of the towers and protrusions. "Standard Imperial protocol is to dump the waste bins before going into hyper drive. We'll detach then and float away. They'll leave and we can go where we need to."

"I'd feel better if I knew why Vader's shuttle went on that little trip earlier."

"Probably went to intimidate some officer who screwed up during the attack. I hear he's not the nicest guy to work for."

Leia's eyes looked out onto the _Executor_, a chill of dread creeping up her spine. "Yeah… I've heard that, too."

* * *

"Can You hear me? Are You listening?" She was alone at the moment. Earlier there had been a couple of guards allowed to rough her up a bit. Her face throbbed from the blows and her right eye was swelling enough that her vision wasn't as good as it should be. "I have no qualms in telling You that I'm scared out of my wits right now."

She suspected that someone would be in soon to begin interrogating her. She rather dreaded that, but this exact scenario was why they had the Star Writer code broken up like they did. The most she could divulge would be to tell them what the English words were. Anything after that, and they were on their own. She couldn't even be certain where on which ships the coding boxes were hidden any longer. She had insisted that she be taken out of that particular part of things.

"I know You are with me, but I'm still scared, mostly for Luke. I'm afraid… I'm afraid that he'll get some kind of Force vision or something and come charging in like the White Knight. He can't do that. Please don't let him do that. Please keep him from doing anything stupid."

"So little faith in your husband, Aria?"

She looked up, unable to stand because of the restraints that held her in place. Standing before her was a person of unequaled beauty. She couldn't be certain if it was a man or a woman, it seemed androgynous in it's perfection, but her body reacted to it immediately. It exuded unbridled sensuality, like every dark, lustful thought she'd ever had since puberty.

Underneath, however, was the unmistakable taint of evil. She shrunk into her chair. "Who are you?"

It smiled. "Come now, Ari, you're a smart girl. Surely you didn't think that He would take an interest in you and I wouldn't notice. It always interests me when He picks on one of you poor creatures and tosses you into the lion's den, so to speak."

She frowned, her fear increasing. "You have no place here."

"I have no place here? I'm everywhere at once! You're the one who is so far from home." Lucifer walked closer, starting to circle around her. "Poor little girl. One moment you're on the road, headed back to the loving bosom of your massive family, and the next you're in another galaxy, another time, removed from all you love and care about. I will admit that you've adapted remarkably well."

Ari closed her eyes, shaking her head. "Get away from me."

"And a mother to be as well! Too bad you couldn't fill Luke in on that part. I wonder how he'll react when he learns you kept something like that from him." It looked over its shoulder as though hearing something. "Look alive! Visitors."

The door opened and an Imperial Officer in full uniform entered along with a pair of guards. They did not seem to notice the demon in the room as the guards set a chair down before her own so that the officer could be seated. The man was silent for a moment before speaking in a crisp, condescending tone. "Major Skywalker, you should know that Lord Vader himself is on his way here to handle your further interrogations. I can assure you that you will not enjoy his tactics. However, if you promise to cooperate I may be able to request for leniency."

Lucifer gave a disdainful snort. "Listen to the idiot. 'Request for leniency' indeed. He should be asking you for protection, not the other way around. Vader gave explicit instructions that you were not to be touched. He won't be happy when he sees those bruises."

Ari shut her eyes tightly, trying to drown out the Devil's taunting voice. The officer took her expression for one of struggle. The man softened his voice, leaning forward as though he were some kind of confidant. "Major, we know that you are with child. If you force us to resort to more… invasive methods, it is likely that you will miscarry. Your son would die. Surely you do not wish that."

"That would certainly get him killed." Lucifer was suddenly right beside her, so close that its 'lips' were brushing against the outer edge of her ear. She flinched away.

"Don't!"

The officer hesitated. "Don't? Don't harm your child? Are you willing to be more cooperative then, Major?"

Satan chuckled next to her ear. "I have a wedding gift for you, Aria. Or perhaps it is more like an early baby gift. It could be both. Vader isn't going to harm one hair on your battered little head. Do you know why?"

Ari shook her head, her mouth going dry. "You're the Lord of Lies. You never tell the truth."

The Imperial officer frowned. "What?" He looked towards the guards. "How hard did you strike her? Did she lose consciousness at any time?"

"I tell the truth when it suits my purpose, and it does. Vader would never harm his own flesh and blood, and that's exactly what that little bundle of joy you're carrying right now is; his flesh and blood."

Her voice caught in her throat. "I don't believe you."

"Guard, summon the medical staff. I want the prisoner examined."

"No, I suppose you don't. Kenobi told Luke that Vader killed Anakin Skywalker." A hand reached out and brushed a stray lock of her hair away. "There are many ways to kill a man, Aria. You can shoot him, stab him, bludgeoning, poison, asphyxiation or… you can just consume him." It leaned in to whisper against her ear, ignoring that she was pulling away as much as she was able, eyes shut tight. "You can orchestrate your own birth from within him and then toss away his identity like a old, worn out cloak."

It pulled away, standing up straight. Aria forced herself to take deep, shuddering breaths, her heart thundering inside her chest. It couldn't be true. She could almost feel the Devil's triumphant smirk like a tangible weight upon her, just before it spoke again. "Look sharp, Ari. Daddy's here."

The door opened with a hiss. All inside fell silent, but the room was filled with the mechanical breathing coming from the man who filled the doorway. Luke had described him to her before, and she had seen him on news holos that had made their way to the Alliance, but nothing had prepared her for how massive he was. The skull-like mask and jet-black body armor made him appear the epitome of Death itself. She would have given anything to have just turned into vapor and vanished. The eyes of the mask were trained on her face. If she looked as bad as her skin hurt, then she must truly be a frightening sight.

The officer got up. "Lord Vader! We had not expected your arrival so soon."

"I instructed that she not be harmed."

The officer hesitated. "Yes, My Lord, but we received that order only after interrogations had begun. She identified herself with a false persona and we were not aware of who she was until later."

The Sith Lord said nothing, only walked into the room towards her. "There are less traumatic and more effective ways to interrogate a prisoner, Commander."

"Y...yes, My Lord, there are. However, the medical staff confirmed that this particular prisoner is pregnant, and I thought that she may be more pliable were we to avoid…" He was cut off with a gurgling choke. Aria blinked. Vader wasn't even touching him, just holding his hand up. Slowly, the officer began to lift from the floor as though pulled up by invisible cables. She tried to voice some sort of protest, but the man's neck gave with a sickening crunch that made her flinch and closer her eyes again. She flinched a second time when she heard the solid thump of his body falling to the floor.

No one said anything. All that she could hear was the rhythmic breathing from Vader and the pounding of her own blood in her ears. Then there was a click and she felt the restraints on her wrists fall away just before Vader's deep voice sounded again.

"Bring Major Skywalker with us, and signal my physician to prepare for our arrival."

* * *

"That was uncalled for, Morning Star."

Lucifer arched a single brow at the Creator. "The girl deserved to know the truth. People have been lying to her and her husband all this time! She should at least know why Vader put those massive bounties on their heads."

The Father shifted the orbit of a gas giant so that its gravity would affect the planet behind it, allowing for tides and more useful weather patterns. "You intended to torment her and cause her pain, simply because it vexed you that she was praying."

Satan snarled. "'Please keep my husband from doing anything stupid.'" He even mimicked her voice perfectly before stalking away. "How pathetic. She used to be a strong, independent type. Now she simpers over the fate of her husband."

"Simpers?" The Father paused. "I do not see that she simpers. She prays to Me that I prevent her husband from acting foolishly and do something that would have him fall at the hands of evil. This is the action of a wife and helpmate, not a weak woman."

"Well, we'll see how well she holds up against her father-in-law." Lucifer glanced over at the Creator and noted the calm, placid expression. "Don't You ever get upset? Don't You ever get anxious?"

God looked over at the Morning Star and gave him a gentle smile. "How can one be anxious, when one knows all that is to be all ready?" Lucifer gave a muted growl and pushed away from the work area, striding towards the 'door' that lead back to his own realm. "Leaving so soon, Morning Star?"

"I need a drink." He opened the door and looked over his shoulder. "As if You didn't already know!" He slammed the door behind him.

The Father turned back to His galaxies in silence. Perhaps a binary system would make a nice touch.


	13. A Higher Calling

The _Executor _had mainly droids in the medical staff, like most ships, but human touches were still appreciated. Three living people acted as medical officers. One was a young man full of his own self-importance. Another was a middle-aged individual who could not keep his disdain for the Alliance out of his voice. She preferred the third. Dr. Yar's hair had gone silver long ago and lines had been etched into his face from a lifetime of smiles. He was what she had always been told a doctor should be: concerned only with healing and blind to loyalties.

"Well, you're suffering from a bit of malnutrition, no doubt brought on by the difficulty in getting decent supplies, and you're exhausted. Other than that, you're perfectly healthy, as is your son."

"It's a boy?" She hadn't thought anyone could tell this early on. The doctor gave her a gentle smile.

"It's a boy." He made some notations on his data pad. "I'm going to give you a dietary supplement to offset the malnutrition, and I'm going advise the galley of your dietary needs." He gave a slightly miffed expression towards Admiral Piett and Captain Dane. "The basic fare will do, but fresh would be better."

Dane appeared a bit ruffled. "This is a star ship, not a planet."

"A star ship with a hydroponics garden that grows fresh fruits and vegetables."

"Those are for the higher officers!"

"Give her my share." Piett's expression remained placid. "Lord Vader has made it clear that he wishes the Major to have everything she requires."

This seemed to placate the doctor somewhat. His expression softened into something almost mischievous. "She'd be better off in an actual room than a cell…"

"Lord Vader has already ordered her placed in the VIP suite. It has been set aside for her." The door to the medical bay opened and a maintenance worker came in, carrying a bundle of clothing. Piett indicated for him to set them on the narrow table next to her. "These are all we have available for you at the time. We are… ill prepared for female guests. More suitable garments will be procured for you once we are near a system that can provide them."

Ari swallowed. The care they were taking of her only made the reality of her situation sink in further. Vader wanted her healthy and comfortable. He had to assure his grandson's well being. "Thank you."

"We will leave you to dress in privacy, then. Let us know when you are done and I will escort you to your quarters." The admiral gave a slight bow, moving with a slow gentleness of true civility, rather than the curt, cutting action the ship's captain gave. The men left, leaving her alone with the doctor.

"It's been a long time since I've had the pleasure of caring for an expectant mother." He turned his back to offer her privacy, making more notations on his data pad. "It's a far more enjoyable task than putting soldiers back together. You'll need to watch your stress levels. You're understandably tense, but there's not much that can be given to you that wouldn't cause undue danger to the baby. I'm recommending a light exercise routine to help you with that. Keeping as much of your muscle tone as possible will also make the birth easier when the time comes."

"Thank you." She pulled the tunic over her head. "You're nothing like what I expected an Imperial Officer to be."

"How so?"

"You're nice. You aren't calling me names and jabbing me harder than needed."

Yar gave a snort. "I'm a doctor. I'm supposed to be blind to loyalties."

"That young guy in here before wasn't so understanding."

The aging doctor sighed. "Yes, well, I come from an older school of thought. One that believes at least half of the healing process is tied up with the patient's emotional well being. It serves no purpose to be cruel or rude."

"I'm glad. Any chance you'll be the only one I'll have to be examined by?"

Yar shrugged. "Ask Lord Vader if he can assign me as your personal physician. He seems to be in a generous mood when it comes to you." Curiosity got the better of him. "Any idea why that is?"

She fastened the trousers. They were made for a man and were a bit too snug in the hips, but loose in the waist. "I have a suspicion. Tell me, did he order a DNA test as well?"

"Yes. He asked that the DNA from the amniotic fluid be ran against his own. The results aren't ready yet. Do you think it will be a match?"

She sighed; standing up from fastening the boots they had provided her. "I'm afraid it just might be. I can never claim my life is dull. Although given his reputation, I'm not sure he's whom I would have chosen for a father-in-law. I'm done."

Yar turned around. "I wasn't aware Lord Vader ever had a son."

"I'm not certain he knew, either."

* * *

One day into his training and Luke had a whole new respect for Ben Kenobi. Anyone who would tolerate this slave driver deserved every heroic medal and award there was. Heck, he might just erect a statue of him one day. Yoda wasn't heavy, of course, but his added weight did play havoc with Luke's balance as he ran through the swamps, performing acrobatic maneuvers to avoid downed trees and boulders. The swinging on vines part was bad, but the part where he did hand stands while levitating things was the worst.

"Through the Force, many things will you see. The past. The future. Old friends, long gone."

He closed his eyes, letting himself reach out, feeling the Force moving through him and around him. Flashes in his mind swam at the edges of his consciousness, disjointed and senseless at first, but solidifying into something clear and sharp. A city that seemed to float on vapor. Han and Leia, screaming in pain.

"Han? Leia!" He lost his control, falling forward.

"Control! Control! You must learn control!"

"I saw a city in the clouds." Some type of hover technology, no doubt. Yoda closed his eyes, reaching out.

"Yes, friends you have there."

"They were screaming in pain."

"It is the future you see."

Luke got up, his expression concerned. "Will they die?"

"Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future."

"I have to help them."

"I would counsel against such action."

Both Yoda and Luke jumped. Standing about three feet from them, clam and serene as though he had always been there, was a man in a crisply pressed pair of trousers and tunic. Both garments were blindingly white. The Light Side of the Force seemed to pour from him in waves. Yoda put the knob of his gimmer stick to his mouth, gnawing on it thoughtfully. Luke, however, seemed completely taken off guard.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Gabriel. I'm an angel." The man took a step forward, leaving no mark in the soft, loamy ground beneath them. "A messenger for the All Mighty."

Luke seemed puzzled at first, but then it clicked. "God! You're a messenger for the Force Being that talks to my wife."

Gabriel inclined his head a bit. "I am."

"What are you doing here? For that matter… why are you here as a person? Ari usually gets her messages on computer screens."

"This message is for you. Aria sent up a prayer to the Father asking that you not be allowed to do anything foolish. Like running off to get yourself captured or killed. She wants you safe."

Yoda's ears perked. "A wise woman, your wife is. Listen to her wishes, you should."

"But she couldn't have known that the Empire would get Han and Leia!"

Gabriel held up a hand. "Have Faith, Luke. Han and Leia will be safe. The Lord will see to it. Aria will be His hand in this."

"So Ari's with them."

"She's with Vader."

"What!" Luke felt as though a hand had reached into his chest and made a fist about his heart. He grabbed his jacket but found himself held in place by the Force.

"Be at peace, Luke. Vader will not harm her. He could not even if he wanted to. Her Faith will protect her." The angel looked over at the small, green alien. "He should be told the truth. All of it."

Yoda's back stiffened. "No. Only hurt him, it would. No good could come of it."

"One of the Maker's most important laws is 'Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness'. The lies served their purpose. You kept them safe. Now he needs to know the truth if he is to understand why Vader will not leave him be. He needs to know why he has been lied to all his life."

Luke looked at Yoda. The tiny Jedi Master was now looking at the ground at his feet, his ears drooping. "Master Yoda? What does he mean?"

"Right, you are. Told he must be."

Gabriel gave a nod before looking back at Luke. "The irony of Vader's fall into darkness was that it came from an act of love."

"Love? How can someone become one of the most evil men in the galaxy out of love? It makes no sense!"

"It depends on what the Dark Side promised him."

"Life over death, it promised. The power to cheat death, the Emperor promised him." Yoda drew shapes in the dirt with his stick. "Saw your mother's death, Anakin did, and it frightened him."

A cold buzzing started between his ears. Luke sat down on a fallen tree trunk. "My father… a Sith?"

"The Emperor twisted his thoughts, whispered promises of limitless power in his ear and fed him half-truths to poison his view of the Jedi. He knew that Anakin was having visions of your mother dying in childbirth and he used that to weaken him. He knew that your father had held his mother in his arms as she died after having been tortured for days on end by Tusken Raiders. He knew how the inability to save her life continued to torture him. Promising him the ability to keep your mother alive and spite the visions was exactly what your father wanted to hear. However, it wasn't giving birth to you and your sister that killed your mother; it was her broken heart. It shattered the moment she realized what her husband had become."

"Sister?" Luke swallowed, feeling a bit ill as he tried to puzzle through it all. "Leia…"

"Twins, you were. Separated you had to be, to protect you from the Emperor." Yoda cast a sympathetic look at the young man. "Your sister given to Senator Organa was. To Tattooine you were sent, to Anakin's stepbrother. Never return to that world, Vader would. Safe, you were."

"The Emperor would know that you and your sister would likely weaken his hold on your father. At best, he would have had you killed. At worst…"

"He would have turned us. Raised us in the Dark Side of the Force."

Gabriel nodded. "And made you as evil and twisted as he is, himself."

"Lied, we did, about your mother's death. Said her unborn child died with her. Her burial clothes padded were, to make it seem you were still inside. Had they known of you, search for you they would have."

"Ben said that Vader betrayed and murdered my father."

"And he did." The angel moved closer. "There are many ways for a man to die, Luke. The part of him that was Anakin was killed by the part that was Vader, but there is something of your father left. He's hidden deep inside, still clinging to the love he had for your mother. He grew stronger the moment Vader heard the name of the pilot who destroyed the Death Star. It's not much, and he's weakened from years of imprisonment, but it's a start."

"Then I should go to him." Luke stood up. "I have to try to reach him!"

Yoda rapped him on the side of his leg sharply. "No! Paying attention you are not! Here to warn you, Gabriel is. Stay away from Vader, your wife wishes of you. Right Gabriel is in that he will not harm her."

"How can you be sure of that?"

Gabriel blocked Luke's path as the younger man made to leave the area. "Because Vader also felt the pain of Padme's death. In that he and Anakin are truly the same man. They both loved her with all that was within them. In his eyes, Aria is to you what your mother was to him. He will not harm her. You, on the other hand, are another matter. If he has to inflict harm on you in a misguided attempt to bring you over to his side, he will. If he has to kill you because you fail to turn, then Aria will still be safe, kept as a monument to your memory and he will still have your son."

Luke's face paled. Gabriel gave him a slow nod. "You are going to be a father, Luke Skywalker. Aria knew, but the Father asked her to be silent so that you would not be moved from the path laid before you. Had you known, you would have refused to come here and you would now be in Vader's hands." The angel placed a hand on the young man's shoulder. "Fear not. God is with her, guiding her. He has chosen her to work His will in this."

"Doesn't He realize that's what she's afraid of the most?" Luke shrugged off the hand, walking away from the angel. His mind was spinning. "I've asked Aria about her religion, about her people. She's told me about the men and women her God has chosen to speak with in the past, about the things He's asked them to do. Calling down fire. Bringing about plagues. Being put to death as martyrs. It terrifies her that He might ask her to do the same!"

"The saints and prophets were men and women who followed their Faith. Many of them were frightened in the beginning but none of them carried their burden alone. Your wife is not alone. She has her Faith. You should trust her in it. Stay here. Learn from Yoda, as is your path. Become the Jedi that you are meant to become. This galaxy will need your strength very soon."

"And Aria? What about her?"

The angel smiled. "Aria was a lost sheep who has been found. Many of His servants were the same, many worse than her, some even worse than Vader. She has a purpose and a task to complete, though she herself does not yet see it. He will reveal all to her in time, and she will be equal to the burden. Hold no fear for your wife, Luke. She is protected."

* * *

She stood in the center of her spacious room. It was as close as she could force herself to come to the clear windows that granted her a view of the stars outside. Unfortunately, the bed was near one of the windows. It looked as though she was in for a lot of sleepless nights. The door opened behind her. She didn't need to turn around. The mechanical breathing told her who it was.

"I apologize for your distress. I am certain this is hard on you."

"It's not that. I was trying to puzzle out how I'm supposed to sleep. I have a nagging case of space fright." She turned slightly. "Go ahead. Laugh. Your son thinks it's hilarious."

Vader paused a moment. "It is not uncommon." He touched a com unit built into the chest of his suit. "Captain, have the blast shields over Major Skywalker's quarters closed." And acknowledgement of the order responded. A moment later, the metal casings over the windows began to close with a whine. "I will have someone come in and move the bed closer to the inner wall for you."

"Thank you." She turned fully to face this man who was now related to her. "Who was she? Everyone always talks about Luke's father, but no one has ever said anything about his mother. Seems rather unfair considering that she had to give up control of her body for most of a year to bring him into the world."

The Sith Lord stared at her through the dark eyes of his mask, then walked past her. "Her name was Padme. She was a senator, and a beautiful woman. I met her when I was just a boy, a slave on Tattooine. At that time she was only fourteen, and already she was an accomplished leader. Only fourteen and her people had elected her as their queen. I knew the moment that I met her that I would marry her after I had grown."

Ari turned, keeping her eyes on Vader as he walked past her. "You should make that public. It would soften your image. Win sympathies." She laced her fingers together. "Almost as much as making it public that you have a son that was kept from you all this time."

"A son that grew up to become the rebel pilot who destroyed the Death Star and the more than fifty thousand men on it."

She shrugged. "True, he hasn't endeared himself to Imperial Loyalists. Still, I think your Emperor overestimates the numbers that are loyal. Sentient beings chafe under the boot of tyranny. The heart yearns for freedom."

The Dark Lord turned to face his son's wife. "You speak as though you know from experience."

Ari gave a half-smile. "I'm an American. My whole country was founded on rebellion. We suffered under the rule of a king who saw us as little more than a cash cow and decided we didn't like it." She tilted her head to one side. "Do you know what the funny thing about rebellion is? Even if you manage to beat down one insurrection, the desire to rebel is still out there. It may be reduced to a flicker, but over time it grows until it is an inferno that cannot be kept within the confines of back rooms and alleyways. It breaks out and scorches all that it encounters. Eventually a fire will start that cannot be put out."

"The Emperor sees that the Rebellion would have already been crushed were it not for your Star Writer code." She thought she detected amusement in his voice. "Our intelligence officers are impressed by your ingenuity. They wish to speak to you about the code."

She wasn't troubled in the least. "It would do them no good. I took great pains in making certain that I was kept out of the particulars for just this reason. All I do now is issue orders."

Vader was silent for a long moment. "I cannot sense your thoughts. I can feel your surface emotions, I can sense that you are afraid and I can sense that this surprises you. How is it that your mind is shielded from me?"

Aria stared up at those black lenses. "I don't think you'd believe me if I told you." She braved another slight smile. "May I make a request?"

"You may ask."

"If I am to be kept on this ship, can Dr. Yar be the sole physician over me? I'm not overly fond of the other two living physicians you have."

Vader pondered her request then nodded. "Done." He turned away from her again, looking at the now shielded windows, hands behind his back. "I saw the temple in which you were wed. My son is strong, but not that strong. How is it that the Force saw fit to construct such a place for your benefit?"

Ari smiled, oddly comforted by the memory of her wedding day. "I try not to dwell on the whys and wherefores. It's too much to take in." She gave a shrug. "I didn't even believe in God before I came here. Not really. I thought I was too smart to fall for such a silly superstition, believed that the concept that one being or power could be responsible for the creation of everything was foolishness. Imagine my surprise when the Creator of All singled me out; some snot-nosed farm girl from Michigan."

"God?" Vader turned back towards her. "Then you, like the Llamarians, give the Force a persona. It is far greater than that."

Aria shook her head gently. "God. The Divine. Neither the Llamarians nor myself are trying to squeeze the Force into a single bundle. We believe that there is a consciousness behind it all, guiding it."

"Lunacy." The Sith Lord moved past her towards the door.

"Now you sound like me, before I received a postcard from Heaven. Before messages started showing up on computer screens to tell me what to do." She turned around to watch his retreating back. "I had to get smacked by a clue-by-four as well, and I've never seen things more clearly." Vader left the room without a response. She sighed as the door slid shut, leaving her alone in the room. "I think a clue-by-six would be more your size, Anakin."


	14. Dinner in the Clouds

She was walking down the stairs of the main house, the ecru wallpaper with its trailing flowers broken by framed pictures of smiling faces. She could hear her nephews begging for cookies from inside the kitchen and there were shouts from the den where her brothers and cousins were watching the game.

"Ari, Honey, come give me a hand!" She jumped the last two steps, ruffling little Mitch's hair as she passed him in the kitchen door, his face already smeared with chocolate. Her mother and Aunt Cloe were still baking, several cooling racks already crowded with circular discs of chocolate and nuts. Ari snatched one up, still warm from the oven, and bit into it. Her mother gave her a stern look. "I said give me a hand, not snitch. Get that sugar dough out of the fridge and roll it out for me. We need to make those next."

Aria grinned and pulled the big stoneware bowl from the fridge. She shut the door and turned around to face a kitchen that was now empty except for a young, attractive woman sitting on a stool by the island. She gave Ari a serene smile. "Hello, Aria." She reached over and picked up one of the cookies. "Your mother is very good with these."

Ari looked around the kitchen, then back to the woman. "I'm asleep."

"Yes. It's easier to speak with you in your dreams. Less chance of a distraction."

Ari sat the bowl down and took the stool on the opposite side of the island. She tapped her fingers on the wooden surface, pondering how to start. After a moment, she took a breath. "This is really odd."

"What part?"

"Where do I start? There's the part where I'm driving home for the summer and end up on a space ship. There's the part where God talks to me through my computer. There's the part where I got married in a church that sprung up from the ground overnight. Now there's the part where I'm asleep, dreaming I'm in my parents' kitchen with an angel sitting across from me. I'm… guessing about the angel part. At least you're not giving off the same creepy-crawly thing that the other guy did."

The woman grinned. "You are correct. I am an angel."

"Okay, let's start there. Why am I dreaming I'm in my mother's kitchen with an angel sitting across from me eating chocolate chip cookies?"

"Because even though you have a husband and a life here, this is a place that is still very much dear to your heart. This is where you have felt the most secure, but only because you've been in the midst of a war since your arrival in another galaxy."

"Fair enough." Ari turned out the sugar dough onto the wooden surface after sprinkling it with a dusting of powdered sugar. The act of moving the rolling pin over the dough was oddly comforting. "What am I supposed to do this time?"

"God wishes you to deliver a message."

"He does? What kind of message?"

"You are to tell Emperor Palpatine that it is God's wish he step down from power and free this galaxy from his rule."

Ari smacked the dough with a rolling pin. "Okay, I seem to recall specifically requesting that I not be turned into Moses."

"Actually you asked not to be set to parting the Red Sea. Highly unlikely considering that you're quite far from Earth at the moment."

"That is splitting hairs and you know it!"

"It's being literal." The angel broke the still soft cookie in half, smiling as she watched the melted chocolate stretch into thin ropes as she pulled the halves apart. "And it isn't really that hard of a task. You will be taken before Palpatine so the opportunity to deliver the message will be made available to you."

Aria rubbed her temples, eyes closed as if in pain. "And when the crazy sociopath orders my decapitation?"

"Aria, you know that The Creator will watch over you in this. Place your faith in Him and your enemies will be unable to harm you."

She rolled out the cookie dough, her lips tight. "And in the meantime I just have to survive the worst Father-In-Law ever."

"It could be worse. Luke could be related to Palpatine." Ari's hands stopped in mid-roll, her wide eyes shooting up in a horror filled expression. The angel quickly swallowed her bite of cookie to quickly add, "He's not! You've no need to worry about that."

As if someone had cut a tightly pulled wire, Aria snapped out of her sleep to find herself staring up at the cold gray ceiling of her quarters. She drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Well, that's something, at least."

* * *

"Okay, _now_ you're cheating!"

"How am I cheating?"

Lucifer sputtered a moment, one hand waving towards the shimmering representation of Aria as she paced the length of her quarters. "How! You're sending her on missions!"

God gave an ever-serene smile. "I would remind you of your request, Fallen One. You merely requested that you be allowed to send Aria into this situation. It was never said that I would not be allowed to give her a quest or two should she decide to turn to Me."

"But… that's not fair!"

"How is it unfair? You set the conditions."

"She wouldn't very well say 'no' to You now that she has concrete proof that You are real! She didn't even believe in You when this started!"

"She believes in Me now. That is what matters."

The Prince of Lies glared at the image of the woman, looking as though he would have cheerful wrung her neck at the moment. With a disdainful snort, he turned away from the scene, his mind whirling as he thought of what to do next.

* * *

Escaping from the double threat of Imperial bombers and a giant space worm had almost been enough to turn all the hair on her head white, but Leia was holding it together the best she could. Still, C3PO's incessant complaining wasn't helping matters any. She switched him off as she stood up to lean closer to Han.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." She looked out at the small fleet they were currently hiding amongst. The Falcon was almost the exact same color as the Star Destroyer she was currently affixed to. Unless you were looking hard enough, she would just seem to be another part of the larger ship, allowing them to hide in plain sight. It was a daringly clever idea. Of course, she'd never tell Han that. "What's next?"

"If they follow standard Imperial protocol, they'll dump their trash before entering hyperspace. We'll detach when the do and just float away."

"With the rest of the garbage." Damn, he was smarter than he let on. "Where do we go after that?"

Han looked at the navigation system. He'd been going over star charts. "I've been thinking on that."

"Where are we?"

"The Anoat System."

"Anoat System? There's not much out there"

"Yeah. Hey… here's something. Lando!"

Leia was unfamiliar with that one. "Lando System?"

"Lando's not a system. He's a man, Lando Calrissian. Card sharp, gambler, a scoundrel. You're kind of guy." He gave her a roguish smile at the reminder of their previous conversation.

"Thanks." She looked at the log sheet he'd pulled up. "A mining colony?"

"Tibanna gas mine. Lando conned someone out of it a while back."

"Can you trust him?"

Han gave a glance up at the fleet. "No, but he has no love for the Empire, I can tell you that." R2 made a series of beeps. "Yeah, I see it. Chewie, get ready to release the landing claw."

It worked, just as he had intended. The fleet did dump their trash before departing, and they did just 'float away' with it. Without the hyper drive it took them a little over one month to reach the cloud city of Besbin. Han was gracious enough to let her have his sleeping quarters, but that didn't do much to make living in such a cramped space with a egotistical human male, a Wookie and two bickering droids any easier.

To top it all off, she couldn't shake the nagging feeling that Aria hadn't made it off Hoth with the rest of the fleet. Her sleep continued to be plagued by dreams that featured her dark haired friend enclosed within an Imperial Star Destroyer with the foreboding presence of Lord Vader hovering over her. She remembered her own time in the Sith's clutches too well and would often wake up in a cold sweat, fearful that the other woman was suffering unbearable agonies while she remained in relative comfort.

Leia stared out through the transparisteel that separated her from the cold air of Besbin, her worries filling her mind to the point that there was little room for anything else. She didn't trust Lando; he was too charming and smooth, but her greatest fears were still that Aria and Luke were not safe as they should be. She had never felt so… powerless.

She swallowed, her fingers worrying the sleeves of the fine garments she had been given to wear. "If… if You're listening… I don't even know if You care to listen to anyone but Aria… but if You are… watch over her. Keep her safe." Instinctively, her face tilted upwards to what she knew was just the atmosphere. But didn't all the old superstitions say that the 'good' deities lived in the Heavens? "She never asked to be part of this war, but we're very grateful that she is. The things she has done, she's saved so many lives. Please let her be safe."

"Who're you talking to?"

She hadn't heard Han come in. She whirled around, banishing her worried expression with practiced ease. "Something's not right here. No one's seen 3PO and everyone's avoiding giving any answers!" As if on cue the door opened to allow Chewie to enter, carrying a crate filled with their droid's various parts. "What happened?"

The Wookie gave a howling answer. Han frowned as he translated. "He found him on a scrap pile. No worry, I'll ask Lando to have his people look at him."

Leia glared. "I don't trust Lando."

"I don't trust him either, but he is my friend." He turned his head as his 'friend' entered the quarters. The handsome gambler gave a winning smile as he took in the relatively close positions of Han and Leia.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Han shook his head. "No, nothing at all."

Lando's eyes moved over Leia in appreciation. "You truly belong with us among the clouds." He didn't see Han fighting not to burst out in laughter at his blatant flirting. "Would you like to join me in some refreshment. Everyone is invited, of course."

Leia took the arm Lando held out in invitation, eyes moving to Han as the smuggler rose from his position on one of the comfortable sofas to join them. Lando glanced over to Chewie. "Is there a problem with your droid?"

Han shook his head. "No. No problem. Why do you ask?"

They left the room, leaving Chewie to try and put 3PO back together. On their way to the dining room Lando responded to their inquiries about his city and the multitude of troubles that came with being a businessman. Han found it all very amusing; the scoundrel turned respectable. Leia was somewhat impressed by how someone who had not been schooled and trained in leadership as she had been since early childhood had managed to figure it out on his own. "What about the Empire?"

"That's always been a danger. It looms like a shadow over everything we've built here, but I've just made a deal that will keep the Empire away forever." Lando touched the key panel to open the doors, opening the dining room with a hiss.

Vader rose from his chair at the head of the table. The sight of him froze Leia in her tracks. A woman in an elegant shift of flowing green fabric had been standing with her back to the door, turning around at the sound of their arrival. Leia drew a sharp gasp as her eyes met with Aria's. So her fears had been right. She heard Lando speak to Han, but his voice seemed to be far away. "I'm sorry. I had no choice. They arrived just before you did."

"I'm sorry, too." Han drew his blaster and fired off a few shots. Vader deflected them by simply raising his hand. The bolts shot off wildly, spurring Leia into reaching out to Solo. "Han! No! You'll hit Ari!"

It didn't matter. The blaster flew out of Han's hand as if pulled by an invisible thread, sailing into Vader's outstretched hand. The sound of his voice chilled her blood. "We would be honored if you would join us." An unknown man in full armor came into view from the side of the room carrying a blaster rifle. Defeated, they entered the room, their heads held high as the door slid shut behind them.

"Calrissian has provided an excellent meal for us." The Sith Lord indicated for them to have a seat at the table. "Aria, you need to eat." With a wave of a hand, the chair to the left of Vader slid out from the table in clear invitation. Ari exchanged a look with Leia before sitting down. Leia moved to take the seat next to her, but another chair somewhat further down the table slid out. Vader apparently did not want her to be too close to her friend.

Han and Leia sat down. Solo glanced down the table. "You all right, Sweetheart?"

Ari made to speak, but Vader beat her to it. "Lady Skywalker is my honored guest. Rest assured that all her needs are being seen to." A server came around with a decanter of wine, but Vader stopped him as he approached the far end of the table. "She will be having water."

Han and Leia exchanged a look across the table. The overbearing attitude Vader was displaying was creepy to the point of being sickening. Clearly Vader was aware of Aria's pregnancy and was controlling her accordingly. Looking away from Han, Leia turned a gaze towards her friend to search for any sign that she was in distress, only to wear a mask of perfect calm.

Solo took up his glass of wine, leaned back in his chair and gave a cocky toast towards the man in armor. "I have to compliment you on your hired muscle, Vader. Boba Fett is one of the finest bounty hunters in the galaxy. Every scoundrel knows that." "He was the one who took down that mass murderer from the outer rims. Way to go! Next to him, I must be pretty boring. That bounty on my head must have gone up."

Fett's fingers tightened on his rifle. "You'd be surprised at by how much."

"Probably." Leia admired Han's ability to maintain his cocky, devil-may-care attitude in the face of impending torture.

It was unsettling, pretending that nothing was wrong. The rest of the meal was eaten in relative silence with the exception of the occasional jibe from Han thrown at Boba Fett. Vader did not seem interested in asking them about the Alliance Fleet or its whereabouts, most likely because he knew they wouldn't tell him. The quiet hung over them like a thick shroud, making the setting very much like that of condemned prisoners receiving their last meal. Without dinner conversation, however, it was impossible to stretch things out to buy them more time.

Leia finished what was most likely a very excellent dinner, although she hadn't really tasted any of it, and dabbed the corners of her mouth delicately with a napkin. "Thank you for your hospitality, Lando. Your chef should be complimented."

Calrissian gave her a sad, polite smile. "I'll be certain to pass your sentiments along."

Han leaned back in his chair. "Yeah, Buddy, you do seem to be living high these days. Guess you're probably getting a little spoiled from the good life." He didn't say 'so you sold us out', but the sentiment was heard clear enough.

Vader motioned to the guards. "Take Captain Solo and the Princess for questioning. The Wookie is to be taken to the holding cell."

Two guards approached Leia, but she spoke up quickly. "Lord Vader, I was hoping that I might be allowed to speak with Aria. In private."

"Allowing Alliance officers to converse in private is not a wise move."

"Lord Vader, it's obvious that you are aware of Aria's current condition. There are… concerns I wish to discuss with her. The kind that usually make men uncomfortable." Leia glanced at Ari and saw a muscle twitch at the corner of her mouth. She supposed it was slightly amusing to use such an old 'woman's trick' against Vader. "Besides, as I recall Imperial ships are oppressively male. It may do her some good to speak to another woman for a change."

Vader hesitated for a moment, his dark helmet turning towards Aria. She took a breath and looked to face him. "She does have a point. Dr. Yar is nice and Piett has been… supportive… but the guys are starting to get on my last nerve. It would be nice to talk to someone who doesn't have a Y chromosome."

It almost looked as though he would deny her this one request, but he surprised them. "Very well. Guards, allow the Princess five minutes alone with Aria. Then take Leia for questioning and escort Aria back to my ship."

Han gave both of the women a concerned look before he was hustled out of the room by the guards. Vader left with Lando and Boba Fett, followed by the remaining guards who took up a position just outside the doors before they slid close. Leia got up immediately and hurried to Ari's side, crouching down beside her. "Are you all right?"

"Well, considering the current situation, I'm just peachy." Ari turned her face to look down at Leia. "He hasn't harmed me. In fact, he's more obsessive over my safety than my father was when I started school. It's rather annoying."

"I noticed. At least if he's not going to interrogate you, the code should be safe. Has he said anything about the Alliance? Tried to get information from you at all?"

Ari shook her head. "He only asks me about myself and Luke."

Leia let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "Of course. He's still obsessed with finding Luke. The Emperor likely wants to make an example of him."

"He's Luke's father, Leia." Ari looked saddened by the knowledge. "Vader is… was Anakin Skywalker."

Leia felt as though her brain had shut down. She closed her eyes, shaking her head in confusion. "Vader killed Anakin. Luke told me…" She faltered when she opened her eyes and found Aria shaking her own head.

"Luke doesn't know. He's always been told that his father died when he was just a baby. And I don't think Vader knew about Luke, either. Not until he found out the name of the pilot who destroyed the Death Star."

Leia stood up and began pacing the floor just behind Ari's chair. "Any idea how this happened?"

"He doesn't like to talk about it, but I have had plenty of time alone with him. I managed to get bits and pieces here and there, but remembering makes him furious so I had to be careful." She turned around in her chair, looking up at Leia. "Vader believes that the few Jedi who may have escaped the initial purge were behind it. Apparently he married a senator, but he was still in training at the time and marriage was forbidden to Jedi anyway. They kept it a secret. When he joined with Palpatine… something happened that he wouldn't talk about. Anyway, the official record said that his wife died in childbirth, but that the baby died in utero and was buried with her. According to Vader, the Jedi had his wife at the time she died."

"And after she died, they falsified the records to hide Luke." Leia hugged herself. All this seemed too much like a holodrama to be real. "If Vader had been allowed to raise Luke, then Luke would be a Sith right now. The Jedi did the right thing by finding him a new family."

"That's the part that doesn't make sense. Owen and Beru were Luke's real aunt and uncle. Vader admitted that much. Apparently he was from Tattooine, and after the Jedi took him to start his training, Owen's father married his mother. Kenobi didn't even bother to change Luke's name; they hid him in plain site. Somehow they knew Vader would never go back to that planet, or ever bother to contact his step-brother."

Leia sighed. "His mentor lied to him. His father not only lives but also is the walking personification of evil. This will destroy Luke if he finds out." She cradled Ari's face in her hands. "But at least I know that you're safe. If Vader is this obsessed with finding his son, he won't risk harming his grandchild. The trick will be to get you away from him before the baby is born. If he takes after Vader and Luke, we can't risk him falling under the Emperor's control."

"I've thought of that." Ari covered one of Leia's hands with her own. "I just have to hold to my faith. Trust that all will work out for the better."

"Well, if there's ever a time that we need an all powerful Force being to pull us out of trouble, now's that time."

Ari was about to respond when the door opened and the guards came back in. A haughty officer who looked as though he detected an unpleasant odor lifted his chin just a bit. "Your time is up. Princess Leia is to come with us now."

"Now? Already?" Ari stood up, taking Leia's hand in her own tightly. "Can't we have just a bit longer?"

"I have my orders, Ma'am." He motioned the guards to move forward as Leia gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"It's all right. Stay strong."

Leia let go of Ari and moved to join with the guards. The officer waited until they moved past him and out the door before addressing Aria. "Your escort will be along shortly to take you back to the _Executor_." With a sharp nod of his head, he left her there alone.

Aria sank back down into her chair and drew a breath, willing herself to be calm. She wasn't stupid. She knew what lay in store for Han and Leia, possibly for Chewbacca as well. Vader wasn't above torture if it suited his needs. He would inflict pain on her friends; even though it was unlikely they had any current information that would be of any use to him. His goal was to get his son's attention and bring Luke running towards danger.

"Hey," she opened her eyes and tilted her face upwards, "can we talk?"


	15. The Gloves Come Off

Ari got up from her chair and started pacing. "This is big. This is… major big." She stopped before one of the windows, looking out but not truly seeing anything.

"I've never asked. It just dawned on me… I've been jumping every time you say… but I've never asked." She laughed a quick, half-hearted laugh. "You'd think after my upbringing I'd know better."

She shook her head at her own absent-mindedness and turned away from the window. Eyes closed, she collected her thoughts before turning her eyes towards the ceiling. "Look… God… Big Guy… I know I've made mistakes. I'm human… we make mistakes. Again, again and again do we make mistakes. And… with everything that's happened since I came here… any doubts I had that You're real are long gone."

She sighed and leaned against the window, letting her head fall back. "Look… what I'm trying to say is that… I'm ready. I'm trying to ask You to forgive me for all the boneheaded, liberal-minded, asinine things I've done and said. I'm… I'm asking for salvation." She swallowed. "I'm ready for You to move into my heart and use me as You see fit."

She sighed, feeling at a lost and lowering her head so that she was staring at the floor in front of her feet. "We need Your help. I… I just don't see how we'll get out of this without You. Please… God… tell me what to do."

Perhaps if she had access to a computer she'd have better luck. That's the thought that was going through her head when it started. A strange sensation, half feather-light, half filled with purpose, flooded her. It started somewhere in the area of her heart and suffused her body from there, filling her with an odd sensation of warmth. She closed her eyes, savoring the comfort of it as she inhaled a deep breath. Lifting her head, she opened her eyes. Everything seemed… sharper… clearer.

Aria pushed away from the window and walked towards the door leading out into the hallway. A youngish officer from Vader's ship was waiting outside. He turned in surprise as she exited the room. "Lady Skywalker. If you will come with me I'll…" He trailed off as she walked past him and headed down the hallway. "Lady Skywalker? I am to escort you back to the ship."

"We're not going there just yet." She walked on, the hem of the fine gown provided to her for the dinner brushing the polished floor in rhythm with her steps. The officer gaped at her in surprise before hurrying to catch up with her.

"Lady Skywalker, Lord Vader's wishes were that you return to the ship and rest. I am certain he felt it best considering your condition."

"I do not need to rest, Lieutenant. On the contrary, I am quite well." She walked on, the doors opening for her automatically.

"My Lady… I must insist that you return with me to the ship!" He was starting to feel rather nervous. Lord Vader was known for his volatile temperament.

"I am not returning to the ship." Ari walked on. The young officer reached out to stop her, but try as he may, he could not make his fingers close about her shoulder. He stopped, staring at his hand in confusion.

Aria continued her path, unimpeded. She didn't know Cloud City. Vader's arrival here had not included that she be taken on a tour of the facilities, but she seemed to know where she was going. Her feet made sure, even steps as she went her way through the facility's twisting curves.

As she rounded the last corner, a pair of storm troopers was guarding the door at the end of the hall. They looked at one another in surprise as Aria came into view, and then readied their weapons, standing straight. The higher-ranking trooper made ready to speak out, but found his tongue frozen. Both men were shocked to find themselves unable to move as she continued forward. The door opened before she reached it, allowing her to proceed on without pause.

The room before her was clearly industrial in nature. Pipes reached down from the ceiling and steam came out in random bursts from various places. On a metal outcropping that made a half-circle around some sort of deep well stood Han, Leia and Chewie, all in restraints with Calrissian nearby.

* * *

Vader felt it as it grew closer. An overwhelming surge in the light side of the Force. The door to the carbon freezing room opened, his head turning in reflex. He hesitated as he saw Aria enter, her steps even and measured. "Aria, this is no place for you. Return to my ship immediately."

"No." She didn't pause or hesitated in her pace. Vader signaled to the troopers nearest her to take her in hand. He watched as they reached out, but were unable to make themselves make contact with her. Had the Force presence not been suffusing the entire room, he would have doubted their sincerity of effort.

How as this happening? Aria was no Force sensitive, he knew that for certain. And yet the waves of Force energy roaring about them seemed to be coming from her. No, that wasn't entirely true. They were coming both from and into her, like the solar wind of a massive star. The energy was pure. Untainted and very reminiscent of the same energy that had clung to the odd temple where his son and this woman were wed.

Aria finally came to a stop, standing on the lower level of the freezing chamber, looking up where he and the prisoners stood on the gangway. The porcine-faced workers chattered nervously amongst themselves as they backed away from her carefully. "Captain Solo and his companions will be leaving now."

Vader tilted his head in askance. "And how do you imagine that will happen?"

A serene, gentle smile touched his daughter-in-law's face. "I imagine that their restraints will fall off their wrists, they will walk out of this room and return to his ship and that you and your men will be unable to do anything to stop them."

Vader's mask hid any look of surprise his scarred visage might have managed. The expressions on the faces of his captives more than made up for it. He heard the Princess' voice from off to his left. "Aria… I don't think you should push him."

"He cannot harm me, Leia." The mother of his future grandchild made a passing wave of her hand and the sound of the metal restraints falling to the floor followed instantly. "The Falcon restocked and in perfect working order. Including the hyperdrive, Anakin. It is no longer disconnected."

He felt the captives start to move and turned to order his men to stop them. The words would not come out. "You cannot stop them, Anakin. They are leaving." Vader looked back to Aria, then signaled for Boba Fett to fire. The mercenary raised his blaster rifle, but as he went to take aim, the weapon shifted and warped. Both Vader and the Fett stared in shock as his weapon was replaced by a mass of writhing serpents. The mercenary dropped them, letting them fall onto the floor where the twisted amongst one another until they worked free and slithered off in different directions.

Leia paused. "Aria, come on."

Vader leveled his gaze at his daughter-in-law. Something was coursing through him that he had not felt in a very long time. Fear. Pure, unadulterated fear. It occurred to him that Aria still was not a Force user. Something powerful was working this through her. Something more powerful than he and the emperor combined.

Aria shook her head, looking right back at him. "I'm not coming with you, Leia. Vader and I will be traveling to Courascant. I have a message for the Emperor. One that must be delivered in person."

He was aware that Leia lingered on a moment longer, uncertain. Solo sent a plea to Aria that she take care of herself before taking the princess by the wrist and leading her out. Calrissian was leading the way. This didn't surprise Vader overmuch. He had known full well that the city administrator was only going along with his orders out of fear, all the while guilt and a desire to help his old friend gnawing at him. The door closed behind them.

"There will be retribution for this, Aria." Fear was mingling with rage, but it was impotent. Try as he would, Vader could not make himself move. Since Fett and the Storm Troopers were similarly still, he was certain the same held true for them.

"I think you already know that isn't going to happen, Anakin."

"That person no longer exists."

Her smile was gentle, and somewhat sad. "He does, somewhere in there. I have it on good authority that you can still be that person again if you put forth just a little effort and have a bit of faith."

"Faith in what?"

"God." She walked forward until she could come up the ramp and make her way to his side. "Father of all Creation. The Llamarians called Him 'The Devine'. I'm finding that He had more names than I had ever thought possible."

Fear was trying to win out over anger again. "I would have thought you too intelligent to believe in such fantasies. There is no supreme being that controls all."

"Riiiight. And that little church on Llamaria just sprouted up on its own. There's a saying back on my world; Denial isn't just a river in Egypt."

"If your 'God' exists, then why isn't he getting you out of here as well?"

"I already said; I have a message to deliver to the Emperor. One that has to be given in person, and you are going to take me to him. There's no point in our staying here anyway. My husband isn't coming."

"How can you be so certain of that?"

"Because he isn't." Her expression was one of complete certainty. "Now, relax. We're going to be here until Leia and the others are safely away, then you will be released so that we can leave for Courascant."

* * *

"I don't know where you found that girl, but she's either crazy or stupid."

Han shot Lando an angry look, but he couldn't disagree. What was Ari thinking? What's more, how did she get them out of there? Leia was seated behind him, hugging herself with her arms, her expression contemplative. "You alright, Princess?"

"Just worried. I know… I know Luke said this Force Being who pops in on Aria is powerful, and I've seen evidence of the relationship… but I can't help but worry. I don't think Vader will hurt her, not while she's pregnant, but she's taking a great risk."

"What's Vader care about the baby?"

Leia's eyes flicked up to Han, then to Calrissian and Chewie before she lowered them again. "Aria… when we were alone together… you heard her call Vader 'Anakin'?"

"Yeah, so? I doubt he was always Lord Vader."

"No… no he wasn't. He used to be Anakin Skywalker. Aria found out that Vader is Luke's father."

Chewie gave a loud roar of disagreement. Lando looked confused while Han looked both stunned and angry. "Now wait just a damn minute! There's no way that Luke is any relation to that thing!"

Leia closed her eyes and shook her head. "I didn't want to believe it either, Han, but Aria's dead sure of it. That's why he's been obsessed with finding him since the Death Star. Ari doesn't think he knew Luke existed until he learned the name of the pilot who blew up the station. She told me that… that Vader's wife was pregnant but died in childbirth. They think the Jedi falsified the death records and listed that her son died with her."

Han looked as though he was going to be sick. Lando finally had the courage to speak up. "So that's why he was trying to use you guys as bait for this Skywalker. He's trying to trap his son? Well, I guess I can see why the kid might avoid him. Not really the ideal father. But he's still got bait to use, with the wife and kid."

Han nodded. "We have to go back for her." Chewie roared in agreement, Leia voiced an objection.

"We can't. Aria said we had to go, she had to stay with Vader and go to the Emperor."

"Oh, that's a good idea. If this Force stuff is for real, do we really want Luke's kid in the hands of Vader and Palpatine? They'll make him into a monster, just like the two of them."

"I don't like this any more than you, Han, but we have to trust Aria in this. She knows what she's doing."

* * *

Luke was less than happy. Yoda didn't need the Force to tell him this. It was etched into the lines of his face as the young human sat in the cockpit of a spacecraft that refused to fire up. "You're doing this, aren't you." It was not a question.

"Yes." The Force creature, Gabriel, was perched on the nose of the craft in a position that should have had him sliding off into the muck of the swamp, yet he remained secure.

"You're not going to let my engines start up."

"No, I'm not."

Yoda gnawed on his gimmer stick, watching intently and suppressing his desire to chuckle as his stubborn pupil tried to butt heads with this being that was far more powerful than even a 900 year old Jedi master could hope to be.

"I need to go help my wife and my friends. Vader will hurt them."

"Actually, your friends are safe and sound, speeding away on the Millennium Falcon."

Luke's expression turned hopeful. "They are? And Ari?"

"Still with your father."

"What?!" He struck the instrument panel in frustration. "I need to go to her!"

"She is safe. The Father will not let any harm come to her. She has a message to deliver to the Emperor."

Luke let out a few choice curses that were hardly becoming of a Jedi, but Yoda declined correcting him under the circumstances. The boy needed to learn how to manage his anger. It was good that his wife had enlisted the help of 'The Father' to keep him put.

"We have covered this. She doesn't want to be a martyr or a prophet. She just wants to try and lead a normal life!"

"What people want and what The Father's plan is for them are not always the same. She has stepped up to accept the task set before her, Luke. Can you not do the same? All that He asks of you is that you continue your training, and once that is complete, return to Llamaria."

That gave the young man a pause. "Llamaria? Why do I need to return there?"

"You will know when you get there. When Yoda says you are ready, your X Wing will work again. At that point, return to temple He built for your wedding on Llamaria. It stands still. Not even Vader had the courage to attack it. He recognized the power behind its construction even if his stubbornness refused to acknowledged the divinity of it."

Gabriel smiled to Luke and stood up. Of course, this meant there was a man in a pristine white suit standing on nothing but air several feet above the ground. Yoda was not surprised. "Until you finish your training, however, you are not leaving this planet." The angel tucked his hands in his pockets and started walking away. Luke stared after him, dumbstruck, until the figure faded from sight amongst the vegetation of the swamps.

From his seat on a fallen tree, Yoda cleared his throat. Luke's attention swung back to him and the tiny Jedi spoke up. "Now, concentrate and levitate the rocks."


End file.
